News

436th MXS Avionics supports rapid global mobility

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Marco A. Gomez
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- The 436th Maintenance Squadron avionics backshop team does heavy fixing for heavy aircraft. The five Airmen of the avionics team perform repairs on 42 different avionics instruments of all shapes and sizes.

In the heart of the massive C-17 Globemaster III hangars, the avionics backshop team evaluates, troubleshoots and repairs critical flight instruments found in the C-17 flight deck in order to keep Dover Air Force Base’s fleet of Globemaster IIIs ready to provide rapid global airlift.

“We fix all the avionics from the C-17,” said Tech. Sgt. Justin Hemsworth, 436th MXS avionics intermediate section chief. “[Flight deck] panels, GPS systems, radars, head-up displays, anything that you can think of that’s in the cockpit area falls under avionics.”

To accomplish their mission, the avionics team employs a diverse collection of testing equipment. Every piece of flight hardware has its own repair procedure to ensure the part is restored back to working condition.

“We have a big test station in our work area [which] mimics what [instruments do] on the aircraft, but with tighter parameters,” said Hemsworth. “So when we test [an instrument] on our test station, we’re basically saying if it passes here, it will pass on the aircraft.“

The C-17 Automated Test Equipment (CATE) is a massive supercomputer that runs multiple tests simultaneously to diagnose faulty equipment. When equipment fails a test, the computer pinpoints specific areas to fix so maintainers can repair the instrument and return it to service.

Airman 1st Class Netanya Aucamp, 436th MXS avionics technician, is a trained technician on the CATE and executes a series of steps in preparation for instrument testing.

“My job is to test software and hardware to determine any faults in the equipment,” said Aucamp. “It can be intimidating at first. It’s incredibly complex, especially when software keeps failing and you have to go through a bunch of diagrams and try to wrap your head around them. If we’re not here, there will be no way to verify the software. Even if it's a minute part of a larger solution, it’s still an integral part.”

Aucamp said attention to detail is critical when testing avionics instruments as even the smallest of parts can lead to bigger problems on one of the Air Force’s largest aircraft.

When maintainers need to replace a part, they pull it from the aircraft and replace it with one from available instrument inventory. Maintainers then transport the defective part to the avionics team for evaluation and repair.

While repairs can vary in turnaround time, evaluations, testing and repairing conducted by the avionics team allows a faster, more cost-efficient way to return flight instruments to satisfactory, working conditions. The other options include referring the issue to various vendors around the country.

Hemsworth said having a local supply source, along with trained Airmen to repair instrumentation, saves time, money and allows the aircraft to return to the skies to complete the wing’s mission.

“The avionics backshop plays a vital role in ensuring flight line personnel have readily available, fully functioning parts to keep the C-17 fleet flying,” said Maj. Brandon Ray, 436th MXS commander. “I am so proud of our avionics team’s unwavering dedication and attention to detail, which is crucial to the success of the Team Dover mission.”