MOBILITYTHE MAGAZINE OF AIRFORUM MOBILITY COMMAND | FALL 2019

Gen Maryanne Miller Discusses a Changing World: How Mobility Airmen Must Adapt

MAFFS Airmen Get Ready to Roll When Wildfire Gordy, Season Heats Up Expeditionary Center Commander, Talks Full Spectrum Readiness THE Volume 28, No. 3 MOBILITY Fall 2019 CONTENTS FORUM Gen Maryanne Miller

DIRECTOR OF SAFETY Col Brandon R. Hileman [email protected]

EDITORS Kim Knight 3 16 24 30 [email protected] Sherrie Schatz FROM THE TOP FLIGHT SAFETY SUICIDE PREVENTION Sheree Lewis 3 Gen Maryanne Miller 8 Aviation Operational Risk 36 Taking a Look at [email protected] Discusses a Changing Management (AvORM) Commercial Airborne GRAPHIC DESIGN World: How Mobility Safety During 28 Tackling Turbulence: Elizabeth Bailey Airmen Must Adapt A 24/7 Mission National Suicide 5 Major General Gordy, Prevention Month The Mobility Forum (TMF) is published Expeditionary Center RISK MANAGEMENT REGULAR FEATURES four times a year by the Director of Commander, Talks Full 10 What Would John Safety, Air Mobility Command, Scott Spectrum Readiness Snow Do? 37 Mishap-Free Flying Hour AFB, IL. The contents are informative and not regulatory or directive. Viewpoints AMC NEWS Milestones SAFETY CULTURE expressed are those of the authors and 7 U.S.–Australia New 39 Quickstoppers do not necessarily reflect the policy 12 618th Air Operations C-17 Maintenance A Day in the Life of AMC, USAF, or any DoD agency. Center Creates Chief 40 Arrangement Enhances Contributions: Please email articles and of Safety Position Readiness, Cooperation ON THE COVER photos to [email protected], 20 Air Transportation 14 89th Mission fax to (580) 628-2011, or mail to Standardization and Photo, top: An RC-135 Rivet Schatz Publishing, 11950 W. Highland Operations Team at Evaluation Program Joint receives fuel from a Ave., Blackwell, OK 74631. For Evolves for Excellence KC-135 Stratotanker during a questions call (580) 628-4607. TMF 18 The KC-46 Provides mission within the USAF Central editors reserve the right to make Modernization AMC HERITAGE Command area of responsibility. editorial changes to manuscripts. USAF photo by MSgt Russ Scalf and Fortification 16 Recollections of WWII Bottom left: SrA Jared Nye, 779 DE denotes digitally enhanced photo. to AMC’s Fleet from a Legendary EAS Loadmaster, unloads a pallet Subscriptions: U.S. Government 22 From Rebellious Youth to Hump Pilot of ammunition from a C-130 Publishing Office: 2019-645-110/10017. Award-Winning Airman: Hercules. USAF photo by TSgt For sale by the Superintendent of MSgt Ronald Weaver, MOTORCYCLE CULTURE Michael Mason Documents, U.S. Government Publishing 921st Contingency Bottom center: Airmen assigned Office. Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov. 32 Mentorship and Response to 60 APS participate in a Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area New Perspectives readiness exercise at Travis AFB, (CRS), Travis AFB, CA (202) 512-1800. Fax: (202) 512-2104. Create Dover’s CA. USAF photo by Louis Briscese Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 24 Phoenix Spark: Innovation Motorcycle Program Lower right: Capt Robert Isley, a 20402-0001. for Tomorrow’s C-17 Globemaster III pilot assigned Warfighters, Today BACK TO SCHOOL to 3 AS, Dover AFB, DE, navigates AMC RP 91-2. Dist: X low-level points enroute to ISSN 1559-159X 26 MAFFS Airmen Get 34 Taking Care On Campus: MacDill AFB, FL. USAF photo by Ready to Roll When Applying Situational TSgt Laura Beckley Wildfire Season Heats Up Awareness as New Visit www.themobilityforum.net 30 521st Air Mobility Semesters Start This Fall for current and past editions of

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2 The Mobility Forum FROM THE TOP Gen Maryanne Miller Discusses a Changing World: How Mobility Airmen Must Adapt

s I traveled the globe visiting Mobility Airmen in their ‘foxholes’ over the past year, I emphasized how the changing global security environment signifies challenges across every operating domain. A The way we have conducted operations for the past 18 years is Gen Maryanne Miller, no longer sufficient to meet the challenges of the contested domains of the future. To be successful in this new environment, every individual AMC Commander Airman must shift their mindset and commit to developing new skillsets to recognize, understand, and overcome these operational challenges.

Although large-scale changes take time, some challenges can be confronted immediately. First, each of us must take stock of how we think Following Sun Tzu’s about our daily jobs and reorient our mindset. Sun Tzu counsels us, “If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of advice, we must a hundred battles.” ready our minds to We have become accustomed to conducting our business without contest. The threat rings have historically shown us the airspace to avoid, but these run toward the sound rings have expanded. They still exist on the two-dimensional chart, but they have become unbounded as the cyber and space domains draw additional of guns. We must be threat rings around the entire globe in every dimension. We can no longer afford the luxury of projecting airpower from outside these domains. We ready to fight our need to operate within them. way in, complete our Our current thoughts about basing must also change. Air Force strategy doc- uments emphasize that bases are no longer sanctuaries from which to project mission, and then power, but positions from which to engage the fight. Our future operational presence must evolve beyond historic basing models in order to achieve the fight our way back operational agility needed for this environment.1 No base is exempt. Even the homeland is not beyond the reach of space and cyber effects. out of the battle. Every wing, , and squadron, down to the individual Airman, must exercise their Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop. Following Sun Tzu’s advice, we must ready our minds to run toward the sound of guns. We must be ready to fight our way in, complete our mission, and then fight our way back out of the battle.

Second, we will need to acquire new skills to win. This necessity is true institutionally and individually. The 2018 National Defense Strategy

1 See Air Force Future Operating Concept 2015 and Air Force Strategic Master Plan for more on these concepts.

Fall 2019 3 FROM THE TOP

identifies strategic mobility as a core component of a Global Operating Model. For The command is working Air Mobility Command (AMC), global operations are not new; they are business hard. Across each wing as normal. What is new is the manner by which we will dynamically employ our assets to increase operational agility across the entire joint force. This pivot will and staff directorate, we drive a parallel need for dynamic command and control (C2). have begun to shift our Competition in cyber and space means we must be prepared to continue the focus in the direction fight even if C2 is challenged. The development of mission-type orders is a new needed for our future. We skillset we must acquire as an institution. This challenge represents a mentality shift for both commanders and Airmen, because we have grown familiar with a will continue to leverage highly centralized C2 model. This past spring, I asked wing commanders from the stalwart tools of the across the Mobility Air Force—active, reserve, and guard—to examine what mission command looks like for our core missions sets. The way forward is under command—PHOENIX development, but it is clear that maintaining operational agility necessitates new Rally, MAF WEPTAC, C2 skillsets. PHOENIX Spark, MOBILITY As I alluded to previously, the threat rings have grown. Although most of the GUARDIAN—to adapt at contested environment for mobility looks like degradations in cyber and space, it will also look like conducting the mission very close to kinetic threat ranges. the institutional level. Combining the skills needed to mitigate physical, cyber, and space effects is a It must go beyond this daunting task. This summer we released new training guidance as part of the Ready Aircrew Program (RAP), which defines training standards for crewmembers commitment, however. across the , tanker, and mission areas. We need saturation at the Crafted through the lens of Full Spectrum Readiness, these requirements are the individual level. direct result of lessons learned during Exercise MOBILITY GUARDIAN 2017. In a few short weeks, MOBILITY GUARDIAN ‘19 will test our progress and make us even better. Contested Domain Operations (CDO) are baked into each scenario and touch each mission area. This exercise is our command’s premier opportunity to cultivate new skillsets and build muscle around areas where we may be weak, both as an institution and as individuals.

The command is working hard. Across each wing and staff directorate, we have begun to shift our focus in the direction needed for our future. We will continue to leverage the stalwart tools of the command—PHOENIX Rally, MAF WEPTAC, PHOENIX Spark, MOBILITY GUARDIAN—to adapt at the institutional level. It must go beyond this commitment, however. We need saturation at the individual level.

The challenges our adversaries pose are significant and we will aggressively continue to overcome them. I am confident we will not lack adequate preparation. As long as we each reorient our thinking to align with the challenges we face, and pursue the skills we need, we will assure future preparedness. It is up to each of us. It is up to all of us.

Let’s get after it!

Gen Maryanne Miller and CMSgt Terrence Greene with First Sergeants from the 62d Airlift Wing, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA.

4 The Mobility Forum FROM THE TOP Major General Gordy, Expeditionary Center Commander, Talks Full Spectrum Readiness

BY MS. BRITTANY OLSON, STAFF WRITER Maj Gen John Gordy

n August of 2018, Maj Gen John ready to provide Rapid Global The training and mission Gordy was assigned as Commander Mobility across the full range of support services provided of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary military operations.” USAF Airmen are ICenter (USAF EC) at Joint Base constantly exposed to unpredictable, by the USAF EC directly McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ. Gordy is a ever-changing environments and it is affect U.S. national master navigator with more than 4,700 the USAF EC’s responsibility to equip flying hours in the C-130 E/H and personnel with the training, skillsets, security efforts and our T-43 aircraft. Prior to his assignment at and knowledge necessary to complete nation’s ability to shape the USAF EC, he served as the Senior the most demanding missions against Defense Official and Defense Attaché any peer level threat. events around the world. to Turkey and as a wing and numbered Air Force vice commander. “Everything we do contributes to the readiness of not just AMC, but The enterprise of assets and Airmen The USAF EC is the U.S. Air Force’s to every Combatant Command and that AMC provides is designed and center of excellence for Rapid our bilateral and coalition partners. organized to project the right forces, Global Mobility and expeditionary We provide direct oversight for the anywhere in the world, at a time of Agile Combat Support training Global Air Mobility Support System, our country’s choosing. In order to and education. The center has which provides our Nation with a accomplish that mission, the USAF EC administrative control of five wings truly worldwide, force-accelerating, provides Airpower from the ground and two groups within the Air power projection platform from up,” said Gordy. Mobility Command (AMC) and which to respond. Our Contingency oversees the entire Global Air Mobility Response Forces are always ready to The training and mission support Support System (GAMSS). The USAF execute as AMC’s 9-1-1 on-call force, services provided by the USAF EC EC’s Expeditionary Operations School and our building partnership capacity directly affect U.S. national security (EOS) graduates more than 40,000 mission sets enable readiness and efforts and our nation’s ability to shape Airmen annually and is often the final interoperability with allied and partner events around the world. The National step in preparation for deployment. nations,” explained Gordy. Defense Strategy’s three priorities of 1) building a more lethal force, 2) The USAF EC plays a pivotal role in Force Readiness drives AMC’s core strengthening alliances and attract- Full Spectrum Readiness for AMC, mission of Rapid Global Mobility, and ing new partners, and 3) reforming the U.S. Transportation Command, the USAF EC acts as the foundation the Department of Defense for greater and all U.S. Air Force general purpose of Rapid Global Mobility efforts as performance and affordability all begin forces. Gordy defined Full Spectrum the center is responsible for training with the USAF EC’s training curricu- Readiness as “both a mindset and and developing America’s present lum and mission support services. focus that the U.S. Air Force must and future Airmen. “Readiness is at “Through the training we conduct maintain to ensure we are always the core of Rapid Global Mobility. for the Air Force, the Expeditionary

Fall 2019 5 FROM THE TOP

Center helps build a more lethal force CMSgt Terrence Greene, AMC Command Chief, wears a virtual reality headset to view a training that can survive and operate in hostile scenario created by TSgt Luis Gomez, 423d Mobility Training Squadron Aerial Port Expeditor (APEX) Course Director (left), at the Air Force Expeditionary Center at Joint Base McGuire-Dix- regions. We also strengthen alliances Lakehurst, NJ, June 18, 2019. Gomez created the VR scenario to allow APEX students more time to and help form new partnerships practice aircraft loading functions. through our Air Advisors who provide USAF photo by TSgt Ashley Hyatt support in the SOUTHCOM [Southern Command] and AFRICOM [Africa Command] AORs [areas of responsibil- Squadron Leadership Course, and the for Air Combat and Global Strike ity],” stated Gordy. Landing Zone Safety Officer Course. Airmen. “Recently, the EOS partnered From an innovation standpoint, the with Air Force Global Strike The future of the USAF EC is driven USAF EC is experimenting with Command to benchmark AMC’s by full spectrum readiness, which new technologies to offer a more Mobility Air Force Maintenance can only be achieved through hands-on learning experience and Supervision and Production Course continuous innovation and advanced make training as realistic to actual and developed the first-ever Global training that prepares Airmen for missions as possible. Currently, the Strike Command [Bomber/E-4B] the forthcoming fight. As a result, EOS is gradually integrating virtual Aircraft Maintenance Supervision and the EOS’s curriculum is constantly reality into its training curriculum, Production Course. This was done evolving to address new threats and which will provide students with using the EOS’s Aircraft Maintenance optimize training effectiveness and more flexibility and decrease the Production Simulator, and now the relevancy for AMC and the Air Force. necessity for available aircraft or EOS is currently developing Fighter Future courses in the pipeline include equipment. The USAF EC is also at Aircraft and Missile/ICBM courses the Advanced Logistics Readiness the forefront of creating unparalleled, that will increase readiness for Air Officer Course, the RAVEN Program next-generation simulation devices Combat Command and Global Strike Manager Course, the Air Mobility to elevate the training experience Command Airmen,” said Gordy.

6 The Mobility Forum AMC NEWS U.S.–Australia New C-17 Maintenance Arrangement Enhances Readiness, Cooperation Maintainers from 15th Maintenance Group and members from the 36th Squadron from Royal Australian AFB Amberley, perform maintenance on a C-17 Globemaster on JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI. BY AIR MOBILITY COMMAND ensuring the can operate USAF photo by TSgt Heather Redman PUBLIC AFFAIRS rapidly in and overcome the challenges associated with operating in a region Air Force and Royal known for its ‘tyranny of distance.’ Air Vice-Marshal Steve Roberton, Air U.S. Australian Air Force officials Commander Australia, said the arrange- implemented a new maintenance “This maintenance arrangement ment would provide much-needed arrangement for the C-17 that will strengthens the alliance between flexibility during joint operations. improve strategic airlift efficiency and the United States and Australia. The fleet readiness. ability to conduct maintenance, a “Our C-17A workforce regularly shares level of interoperability not previ- a tarmac with American C-17As, The C-17 Aircraft Repair and ously achievable on each other’s whether we are on exercise together at Maintenance Services Implementing C-17s, provides opportunities to home, or deployed across the globe,” Arrangement (ARMS IA) advances share maintenance best practices,” Air Vice-Marshal Roberton said. U.S. and Australian interoperabil- said Jim Silva, Deputy Director for ity. Previously, United States and Headquarters (HQ “Whilst a USAF C-17A is no different Australian Airmen could only assist PACAF) Logistics, Engineering, and from a RAAF C-17A, our air forces one another with C-17 aircraft repairs. Force Protection. “Bottom line: this have different maintenance workforce Now, Airmen from either nation action improves operational resil- structures, which is what makes an are able to perform full, interoper- iency, capability, and cooperation. arrangement like this essential.” able cross-maintenance on U.S. or Even in Australia, this arrangement Australian C-17s at mission critical is held up as the example of the “By making it easier to help one times on a global scale, improving benefits of common support logistics another, this arrangement provides aircraft availability and decreasing arrangements and how they enhance flexibility and mission assuredness for aircraft maintenance downtime and operational capability.” USAF and RAAF C-17A missions.” maintenance recovery expenses. New opportunities may be realized as The RAAF operates a fleet of eight “Partnerships are vital in the mobility well, including establishing combined C-17As from RAAF Base Amberley in enterprise,” said Brig Gen Steve and integrated C-17 maintenance orga- Queensland, Australia. Bleymaier, Air Mobility Command nizations in deployed environments Director of Logistics, Engineering and and the potential for integrating the The C-17 IA is the first, with a high Force Protection. “Mobility Airmen are capability into our new adaptive and potential of adding additional always ready to deliver strength and agile basing concepts. airframes to the ARMS arrangement hope anywhere in the world at any construct between the United States time, and we are most successful when “This level of aircraft maintenance and one of our chief allies in the Indo- we work with valued partners like our interoperability is unprecedented and Asia-Pacific region. Australian counterparts.” opens the door for a new strategic mindset,” Bleymaier said. Future IAs involving the mobility fleet The arrangement increases the may include the C-130J Hercules. The C-17’s strategic readiness, vital to The C-17 ARMS IA signals our contin- United States and Australia—partners executing the global mobility mission ued commitment to interoperability in the Joint Strike Fighter program— and absolutely critical in the vast with the Royal Australian Air Force also have potential plans to develop Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Strategic (RAAF) under the U.S. and Australian an arrangement for F-35 Lightning II airlift assets like the C-17 are vital to Enhanced Air Cooperation Agreement. maintenance in the future.

Fall 2019 7 FLIGHT SAFETY Aviation Operational Risk Management (AvORM)

BY MR. KEVIN SLUSS, CSP, HQ AMC FLIGHT SAFETY AvORM ADMINISTRATOR

isk is inherent in all missions, the accompanying manual worksheet operations, and activities, and the Air Mobility Command both on- and off-duty. Air Instruction (AMCI) 90-903. Recently, RMobility Command’s Aviation AMC Flight Safety published an Operational Risk Management updated version in December 2018. (AvORM) provides a formal decision- AMC Flight Safety also hosts the making system that identifies risks Aeromedical Evacuation Crewmember and encourages mitigation strategies. (AECM) risk management worksheet The appropriate level of supervision (last updated July 2, 2018) on its Air balances risk and benefits. AvORM does Force Portal page. not replace sound judgment or restrict safety-of-flight decisions by the aircraft AMC’s command and control software commander or leadership. At no time for aviation operations, Global Decision does an accepted level of risk waiver Support System (GDSS), included preclude the aircraft commander from the electronic version of the AvORM declaring safety-of-flight anytime worksheet in 2008. Advantages of the during mission execution if it is electronic worksheet include automatic Air Mobility Command Instruction (AMCI) determined the crew is not capable of entry of a mission itinerary. This 90-903 safely accomplishing the mission. permits any GDSS user to make inputs for each flight duty period and for The standardized AMC AvORM each sortie. The system records these program was launched in 2007 with inputs and stores them electronically,

GDSS Examples Using AvORM (from the test environment; not for official use only), and AvORM worksheets.

8 The Mobility Forum FLIGHT SAFETY

In 2019, AMC added AvORM as an app on the In 2017, GDSS users gained the auto- populate entry feature. From certain Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). The current version of fields in GDSS, you can right-click the mission number and then left-click the app is a stand-alone tool that does not require the pop-up menu item “Score Mission connection to GDSS. in AvORM.” GDSS will then open the AvORM application window and auto-populate the mission number, eliminating the need for paper records from 77.5 percent to 70 percent, removing the need to type it in. Users on those missions. Over the years, the and the “orange” zones encompass can also add the AvORM column to electronic worksheet incorporated effectiveness below the 70-percent the mission dashboard. Additionally, automatic inputs when feasible. level. Research studies developed aircrews, by scoring the fatigue risk These inputs now include airfield/ these thresholds based on historical factor in the electronic system, can enroute complexity from remarks in accident probability. Another reduce the recovery period prior to a the Airfield Suitability and Restrictions way to view the zone would be to flight duty period by 10 percent for (ASRR) report and flight hours consider 77.5 percent as equivalent each point added in that risk factor. information from the Aviation Resource to a blood alcohol content (BAC) of So, for each risk level (moderate-high- Management System (ARMS). .05 percent and the 70 percent line severe), the graph recovery will reduce equivalent to a BAC of .08 percent. by 48 minutes on a standard eight- AMC Safety began studies on Each electronic graph contains a hour recovery. incorporating fatigue management legend menu, but line colors follow software in 2009. In 2013, GDSS added this pattern: duty periods are blue, In 2019, AMC added AvORM as the mission effectiveness (ME) graph non-sleep recovery periods are an app on the Electronic Flight feature, commonly known as the gray, and sleep periods are black. Bag (EFB). The current version “fatigue graph.” The graph depicts a When GDSS assigns an augmented of the app is a stand-alone tool mission itinerary against a cognitive crew to the mission, a second line that does not require connection effectiveness reference scale. It depicts appears on the graph in a slightly to GDSS. Planning an itinerary an aircrew’s current circadian rhythm lighter color. The augmented line requires manual input of mission alignment, planned flight duty period includes an assumption of an name, aircraft, crew composition duration, and mission flight and inflight nap recovery per flight duty (basic or augmented), airports ground times. Current fatigue research period, resulting in a depiction of (by International Civil Aviation does not support the graph as a stand- higher effectiveness. Organization [ICAO] designation), alone Go/No-Go decisionmaker, drop zones or air refueling as but it is a vital component of a In 2015, GDSS users gained the applicable, and departure/landing multidimensional, comprehensive risk mission linking capability, which times. The app does not calculate management process. Its cognitive can combine ME graphs from enroute times. The app mimics the effectiveness estimate assumes the separate missions into one graph. capability of the AvORM online need for eight hours of good quality This improves accuracy for aircrews worksheet in GDSS. Help within the sleep per 24 hours to maintain optimal who complete one mission and then app provides further instructions. effectiveness. Individual effectiveness accept another adjacent mission that AMC has plans to introduce an varies based on individual workloads, starts at the same location with the upgrade to the app in the future that in-flight rest periods if available, and same aircraft. Without linking, the will provide the capability to connect sleep cycles. graph would depict effectiveness for to GDSS and upload an existing the new mission as if the crew was itinerary into the app, removing the GDSS automatically generates an ME leaving from their home station. need for manual input. graph for each mission number that contains a validated itinerary. The program assumes rest periods working Look for current AvORM documents at: around the takeoff and landing times. https://www.my.af.mil/gcss-af/USAF/content/currentavorm Find more information on AvORM at the AMC Flight Safety page: The graph depicts 100 percent https://www.my.af.mil/gcss-af/USAF/site/AMC/SE/SEF effectiveness at the top, with the “green” zone extending down to 77.5 Send inquiries to: [email protected] or call DSN 779-0930 / (618) 229-0930. percent. The “yellow” zone ranges

Fall 2019 9 RISK MANAGEMENT

What Would John Snow Do? Dr. John Snow Photo courtesy of RSabbatini BY LT COL STEPHEN FREEDMAN, 89 AW FLIGHT SAFETY OFFICER

sk yourself: What would John releasing data would help to identify Dr. Snow’s map assigned a dot for Snow do? Are you thinking a pattern. Dr. Snow, along with the each death, and the cluster was of befriending the Free Folk, help of Reverend Henry Whitehead, focused around the Broad Street well Ariding dragons, and uniting mapped all the cholera cases in pump. Based on interviews, Dr. Snow the North? Well, not that Jon Snow, London. Rev. Whitehead interviewed and Rev. Whitehead also found deaths King of the North. I am talking about many of the families and victims to get in houses farther away from the Broad Dr. John Snow, a 19th-century English further information beyond what the Street well were related, because some doctor who is credited with proving data showed. Dr. Snow was not a very of the families preferred to drink that that cholera, a deadly infection that social person, so the interviews from well water or the children went to attacks the small intestine, actually the socially connected Rev. Whitehead school near the well. spreads through contaminated proved invaluable to fill the gaps left water and not by “bad air” as was in the data. This multi-disciplinary Dr. Snow took his findings to local generally believed at the time (germ effort of combining social science, officials and convinced them to take theory was not yet discovered). He interviewing, and data analysis the handle off the pump, making it is often described as the father of was also a novel approach in the impossible to draw water from it. epidemiology and pioneered the use of mid-19th-century. Shortly after removing the well handle, what we would now call a “heat map.” the outbreak came to an end. After plotting all the illnesses and How does an 1854 outbreak of cholera deaths on a map, Dr. Snow made two Researchers later discovered that the in London and a well pump handle conclusions: first, the rate of mortality public well from which the pump relate to safety in 2019? was higher near the Broad Street drew water was dug only a few feet well pump, and, second, between the from a cesspit. The cloth diaper of a Let me try to paint the picture. For companies that supplied the water, one baby, who had contracted cholera from a decade prior to the outbreak, the had a significantly higher mortality another source, had been washed into London government started the rate than the other. Dr. Snow used this cesspit and was the point source of unprecedented process of publicly this pattern recognition to isolate the the outbreak. releasing all the mortality reports outbreak to a water pump on Broad in the city, which included age, Street, which astonishingly, was I view safety somewhat like the gender, where they lived, and cause associated with a 10 percent mortality epidemiological science—one where of death. Although unprecedented, of the residents who lived near the we must use pattern recognition the government hoped that publicly water pump. and data along with a healthy dose

10 The Mobility Forum RISK MANAGEMENT

Under-reporting is one of the biggest threats to an effective However, the rate of MIF or MX related mishaps remains steady. I safety management system. believe that is because we have not placed the same level of proactive safety and human factors in the maintenance career field. Additionally, the concept of Just Culture and confidential reporting is novel to of intuition to target our proactive What do you think are our biggest maintenance career fields. safety efforts. Epidemiology is the threats and hazards? What is your cornerstone of public health, shaping next mishap? How do we prevent Under-reporting is one of the policy decisions and evidence-based it? Let us investigate those areas and biggest threats to an effective safety practices by identifying risk factors begin a targeted, proactive campaign management system. I believe in a for disease and targets for preventive to stop it. Part of the back story on multi-pronged attack against threats healthcare. That sounds a lot like Dr. Snow is that he was theorizing and hazards. That attack happens with our Safety Management System the water-borne transmission of three reporting mechanisms available: (SMS) pillars: “Policy and leadership, cholera for a few years before the AMC Form 97, Airman Safety Action risk management, assurance, and 1854 outbreak. In the end, change Program (ASAP), and Air Force promotion and education.” only favors minds that are diligently Technical Order (AFTO) Form 781s, looking and preparing for discovery. while Line Observation Safety Audit Like the London Government in 1854 (LOSA) and Military Flight Operations and Snow and Whitehead, we have a Some of the trends I have seen over Quality Assurance (MFOQA) are wealth of open source data not only the years are maintenance induced convening in the flanks. from the Department of Defense/U.S. failures (MIF) or maintenance (MX) Air Force (DoD/USAF) but also from related mishaps. For a long time, Safety is one of the few careers where the Federal Aviation Administration the biggest hazard was the airplane we can have a truly lasting positive (FAA), the National Aeronautics and and the pilot on the flight deck. impact on our operations. I want Space Administration (NASA), and Over the years, the low hanging you to take pride in the fact that the industry partners. Our efforts must not fruit was to put safety devices in recommendations and improvements be isolated to the office and crunching airplanes, produce more reliable we write in our reports will prevent numbers, however; we must be out in engines, and to focus on crew mishaps. Like Dr. Snow, we need the field observing behaviors and talk- resource management. Those efforts to identify the trends, embrace ing with Airmen out on the line. This have yielded a nearly asymptotically multidisciplinary collaboration, have data source is one of the most impor- low mishap rate. While the USAF the fortitude to stand-up for our tant aspects of our safety profession—to experienced a recent uptick in theories, and find ways to implement fly the flag of safety, to be out on the mishaps in 2018, and civil aviation the recommendations that are a win- line, and to be available and observant. is mourning the deaths from three win for the Airmen out on the line. We must carry out spot inspections recent accidents, 2017 had zero 24/7/365, not only the Monday fatalities in Air Mobility Command After all, sometimes a life-saving through Friday day shift. All shifts and the world did not have even one recommendation can be as simple as deserve the same level of observation. commercial fatal flight. Astonishing! removing a pump handle.

Fall 2019 11 SAFETY CULTURE 618th Air Operations Center Creates Chief of Safety Position

BY MS. BRITTANY OLSON, STAFF WRITER and leadership took a strategic view in how the role was structured, because long-term continuity of its operational The 618th AIR OPERATIONS CENTER (AOC) safety program is paramount. is responsible for planning, tasking, Originally, to comply with the job requirements of Wing Chief of Safety executing, and assessing Air Mobility roles within the Air Force, only officers Command operations across 42 enroute with previous squadron commander, locations and providing support to all nine director of operations, or chief of safety experience, and civilians with similar combatant commands. Team members qualifications were eligible for the stand ready 24/7, 365 days a year to Chief of Safety position. Because active provide agile global air command and control duty military members frequently rotate assignments, however, it was for Mobility Air Forces. The unit’s 800 personnel consist of determined that the Chief of Safety Active Duty, (ANG), Air Force Reserve, and role was better suited to civil service civilians who plan, task, execute, and assess approximately to ensure continuity and maintain the position long-term. 500 contingency and distribution missions each day and direct a fleet of 1,100 mobility aircraft. Initially, in the spring of 2017, an Air National Guard member who met the qualifications was put on mandays recent safety innovation performing a risk assessment was at and assigned to the 618 AOC for six implemented by the 618 AOC the discretion of the flight planners. months as interim Chief of Safety, to was the creation of the Chief They relied heavily on their personal validate the necessity of the role. In the Aof Safety position. “That was experience and training as pilots fall of 2018, Jennifer Yates, a former something we never had in the AOC in or navigators to incorporate safety Air Force navigator and civilian flight its 27 years of existence. This position protocols or tools. Consequently, safety employee for AMC, was hired as is the first of its kind. Now we have formalized risk assessments were not Chief of Safety for the 618 AOC. a way to pull in all those different the norm. reports and programs and essentially Yates’ priority for her first year is to synthesize it into a way that creates a Both evaluations revealed that the 618 learn the intricacies of flight planner bigger safety impact for the Mobility AOC lacked a robust safety manage- and flight manager roles within each Air Forces,” explained Brig Gen Jimmy ment program, including Aviation of the AOC’s three planning divisions. R. Canlas, Commander of the 618 AOC. Operational Risk Management By understanding the daily challenges (AvORM) and mission effective fatigue faced by individuals, crews, and The 2014 Safety Program Evaluation modeling. Additionally, each recom- divisions, Yates will identify the needs and a 2015 C-17 Line Observation mended the creation of a 618 AOC of planning personnel and determine Safety Audit recommended specific Chief of Safety position, similar to where AvORM protocols, tools, and areas for improvement and proposed a Wing Chief of Safety, who would training should be implemented across changes in the 618 AOC that led to the report directly to the commander and each division. need for and creation of the Chief of facilitate risk management processes. Safety position. The majority of flight The second area of focus for Yates is planners are active duty or retired In 2016, the 618 AOC acknowledged establishing baselines for the Airman pilots and navigators, and until 2017, the need for a Chief of Safety position Safety Action Program (ASAP),

12 The Mobility Forum SAFETY CULTURE

Yates’ vision for the 618 AOC’s operational safety program is the implementation of proactive safety measures that will increase operational safety and reduce the number of annual ASAPs and safety of flight calls. and collecting, analyzing, and of flight calls. Prospective safety tools plan because the cargo difference may disseminating the information derived include random spot inspections drive the need to make a fuel stop from AvORM programs, ASAPs, flight and quarterly or biannual AvORM at an additional base, potentially in duty period waivers, and safety of refresher training. an overseas location, which affects flight calls. Of the 79 reported safety flight duty periods, follow-on legs, of flight calls from 2014 to 2018, the One of the greatest challenges the 618 and renders all of the fatigue graphs primary cause was crew rest and AOC faces in its mission planning obsolete,” said Yates. Her long-term lodging, followed by mission delays, is inaccurate cargo weights. Flight goal as Chief of Safety is to collaborate legal for alert, and maintenance. “I am planners are often provided incorrect with leadership and determine the examining and reporting quarterly weights from the users, which can best approach for streamlining the [the] statistics of flight duty period result in significant operational cargo planning process for clients waivers, ASAPs, and safety of flight inefficiencies and delays. “Cargo and the 618 AOC alike, and avoiding calls, and once I start finding trends, planning and loading causes inaccurate cargo weights altogether. I will reach out to my contacts to say, discrepancies in planning missions, ‘Here is what I am seeing. What can because flight planners will develop a “It’s an evolving but enduring we do to change this?’” said Yates. mission based on the specific weight position. I still have a lot to learn but and dimensions provided for the the good news is, it’s an evolving, Through the analyzation of every cargo load, but then the actual cargo clean slate, and I can change gears single ASAP and safety of flight call, arrives to the aircraft and it is vastly quickly, and I have the support to Yates has uncovered the root cause different than the plan. Additionally, initiate a different course of action and common denominator between the planners create a great flight plan, if I find more efficient methods than several reports. She disseminates that but when they finally receive accurate tracking ASAPs and flight duty period information to respective partners cargo weights it disrupts the entire waivers,” explained Yates. and leverages the data to effect change and resolve the underlying factors responsible for multiple safety of flight calls. For example, between 2013 and 2014, 18 safety of flight calls were attributed to various lodging issues at overseas locations. Yates can now see when changes were implemented at several of these locations through the decrease in safety of flight calls. Some locations are still a work in progress, but judging by the overall drop in ASAPs, the policies implemented at different locations are making lodging better.

Yates’ vision for the 618 AOC’s operational safety program is the implementation of proactive The 60th Aerial Port Squadron obtained two approval certifications for specialized loads, and 618 safety measures that will increase AOC Bookies sourced and planned the cargo on two C-5 Galaxies and one C-17 Globemaster III operational safety and reduce the from the , Travis AFB, CA. number of annual ASAPs and safety Courtesy photo

Fall 2019 13 THE (89 AW) at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is a special-duty assignment designated as the Special Air Mission (SAM), an experienced force of more than 1,100 Airmen and civilians responsible for delivering worldwide VIP airlift, logistics, communications, and aerial port for the U.S. President, Vice President, cabinet members, elected leaders, and senior military, including combatant commanders. The 89 AW also operates the Executive Airlift Training Center and Government Network Operation Center.

AMC NEWS of missions planned by 89 AW entail landing at commercial airports instead of military bases, because 89th Mission Operations the passengers are primarily civilian government officials.

Team at Joint Base Andrews “Mission planning means different things to different units insofar as BY MS. BRITTANY OLSON, STAFF WRITER processes go. The 89th model has planners involved in all phases start- to-finish. The familiarity planners he 89th Mission Operations C-40B, and the Gulfstream C-37A/B have with early versions of itineraries team consists of five civilian fleet. Mission planning responsibilities are helpful as missions change and mission planners and a one- are balanced among planners as they serve as a continuity benefit, not only Tweek rotation of 24/7 on-call are tasked. as the mission progresses, but also duty officers responsible for detailed in odd-hour calls,” explained Joe worldwide mission coordination. This Planning processes at 89 AW are Flynn, Manager of the 89th Mission includes airfield suitability, operations unique from other Air Force units, Operations team. research, flight planning/route because mission requests are efficiently validation, diplomatic clearances, tasked directly from the Pentagon to “Mission planning also doesn’t aircraft logistical requests, and the 89th. This is especially relevant necessarily come down as mission mission package building. Planners with regard to missions with a high tasking, it comes down in a stovepipe are engaged from initial tasking rate of itinerary changes. The 89th from the Pentagon to the mission throughout mission termination for all Mission Operations team is not solely planner, and they will ask if we can get Outside the Continental United States responsible for planning and releasing them into a specific field on a specific (OCONUS) notional (suitability), confirmed missions. Rather, the team aircraft,” added John Bly, a recently tentative (tail and crew allocation, of six must also juggle planning retired mission planner of the 89 AW mission packages), and confirmed missions while notional and tentative, Mission Operations team. (officially releasable for worldwide which can require just as much coordination) phases of client missions time and preparation as confirmed In the notional phase of a mission, aboard 89 AW’s Boeing C-32A and missions. Furthermore, the majority 89 AW planners must research the

An official greeting party stands by on the flightline as the President, First Lady, and their family depart on from Joint Base Andrews, MD. USAF photo by TSgt Robert Cloys

14 The Mobility Forum AMC NEWS feasibility of the travel needs of the are meticulous in ensuring they get “U.S. Defense Attaché offices are Pentagon’s requestors. The notional CFMU-validated routes.” said Flynn. located in embassies and they have phase is research-intensive and time- personnel who are responsible consuming because planners must Once a mission has been confirmed, the for assisting entering crews. It is determine airport hours of operations, team is authorized to communicate the not uncommon for a flight to pass if waivers will be required, and if travel plans and secure all necessary over 20 or 30 countries for just runways, taxiways, and ramps can clearances with respective embassies one mission, and sometimes many bear the weight of the aircraft–basically whose airspace, airports, and countries more. That amounts to a lot of looking for showstoppers and finding a are on the itinerary. If the aircraft is countries, a lot of coordination, a way to meet customer travel needs. flying within 12 nautical miles of a lot of clearances, and a great deal country’s sovereign landmass, planners of diligence by the planners. In When the 89 AW is tasked with a must request a clearance unless one addition to asking for the overflight mission in the tentative phase, the is already blanketed. If the aircraft is and landing clearance at each Pentagon has validated the travel, flying outside of the 12-nautical-mile location, we are also requesting allocated an aircraft tail while tasking boundary, it is considered international logistical support to meet the needs the mission in a software tool called airspace and clearance is not necessary. of the aircraft crew and passengers AviSource, and manually enters the Planners request an overflight for such as security, hotel reservations, party’s itinerary. The 89 AW planners each country enroute and provide transportation to and from the hotel, are tasked with assembling the embassy officials with the requested fuel, lavatory service, conveyor belts, operations plan and identifying every information, which often includes the power carts, and air conditioners or granular logistical element of the itinerary, flight route, entry/exit points, heaters,” stated Flynn. mission. The planning process includes and altitude. The pilots assigned to the referencing source documents, among mission are provided with an electronic Over the next two years, the 89 them the Foreign Clearance Guide, mission package, which contains flight AW will gradually increase its which outlines the particulars of how plans, clearances, and current source fleet between 40 and 67 percent, business should be conducted while documentation required for entering from 12 to 17, or possibly even 20 flying over each country’s airspace and each airspace, airport, and country on aircraft, and additions will include into airports enroute. Planners must the itinerary, which assists pilots in two Boeing C-40s and up to six accommodate the preferred routes accomplishing their own mission study. additional C-37s. and airports of clients and determine if the airports enroute will be open, are operable, and if they have the MR. JOHN BLY RETIRES AFTER 28 YEARS OF ACTIVE DUTY appropriate instrument procedures AND 17 YEARS AS AN AIR FORCE CIVILIAN for the pilots to land and depart. For missions transiting European, African, Before joining the 89 AW Mission Operations team, John Bly entered the Air Force as or Mideast airspace, planes must travel a navigator and served for 28 years. In May of 1975 he was assigned to Dyess Air Force through a high-density funnel point in Base as a navigator in C-130s, and reassigned in 1981 to Joint Base Andrews where he Europe managed by the Central Flow navigated VC-135s and VC-137s, and the VC-25 until retiring from the Air Force in 2002 Management Unit (CFMU) and have as an officer with more than 10,000 flying hours. Bly flew missions to 120 different specific route approval to maintain countries and his passengers have included Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, safe separation between a high volume Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Five weeks after of aircraft. retiring from the Air Force, Bly began a civilian career as a flight planner with the United States Army Priority Air Transport (USAPAT) at Joint Base Andrews. In 2006, “A lot of aircraft are trying to access Bly transitioned to 89 AW as a civilian planner and retired May 31, 2019. many different destinations in very Throughout his 17-year Air Force civilian career, Bly worked with a team of planners condensed airspace that is traveled who were directly involved with 10,433 missions having 32,451 legs into 180 day after day by commercial airliners countries. The team logged 81,024 hours, 39 minutes of flight hours over 36,644,659 flying for profit. One big priority of the nautical miles of distance! commercials is fuel efficiency, so they’re always searching for the most optimal He reflected on his more than 45 years. “I’ve been so fortunate to have worked with route for fuel burn, which is driven the people I have worked with. I turned 68 in May and I had no intention of working by wind patterns. The flow control that long, but I enjoyed the job and the people I worked with. I have been blessed to changes every day and CFMU is not be around good people. I got a chance to see things most people will never get to going to let you just fly through that air- see, no matter how wealthy they are. We got to be part of history in a lot of cases.” space wherever you want, so planners

Fall 2019 15 AMC HERITAGE Recollections of WWII from a Legendary Hump Pilot

BY MS. BRITTANY OLSON, STAFF WRITER

r. George Kilbride truly Himalayan Mountains from India to embodies the defining Kunming, China, where the cargo characteristics of America’s was then trucked to Chungking and George Kilbride MGreatest Generation: dispersed to troops from there. humility, personal responsibility, an unrivaled work ethic, and heroic On April 8, 1942, the United States dedication to fight and sacrifice for his Army Air Corps partnered with Allied weather equipment while navigating country; not for fame or recognition forces on its first mission to transport the mountain range’s infamous series of but because it is “the right thing and fuel, weaponry, and other war supplies tight switchback turns called 24-Turns. the only thing to do.” to the Chinese by navigating the As a consequence, these brave men deadly 1,000-mile-long route over the had to depend on their intuition and Kilbride had a profound sense Himalayan Mountains referred to by straight-up luck for safe travels to the of obligation to his country, and Allied pilots as “The Hump.” The task other side of the mountains. immediately following his 18th was initially assigned to the U.S. 10th birthday in 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and then reassigned The Hump airlift ended in August 1945 Army Air Corp to support U.S. WWII to the Air Transport Command. and was responsible for the successful defense efforts. After just six months delivery of 650,000 tons of cargo to of flight training on PG-19s, BT-13s, The development of an airlift Chinese troops in just 42 months. The and C-47s, the New Jersey teen was operation of this magnitude presented operation was supported by 84,000 certified ready for war and deployed a formidable challenge for the U.S. military personnel and remains one of to Bengal, India, as a pilot of the 12th Army Air Corps and Allied forces, the most complex logistical operations Cargo Combat Squadron. At that time, especially given the treacherous terrain ever attempted and achieved by any Japanese troops strategically entered and unpredictable weather conditions. country in history, but success did Burma to occupy the Burma Road. The Army Air Corps was not trained not come without paying the ultimate The Burma Road was a group of three or equipped to transport thousands of price. An estimated 700 Allied planes truck-convoy ground transportation pounds of cargo a day, and there were crashed or were shot down in the systems that were utilized to transport no airfields in the China-Burma-India Himalayas and over 1,200 Airmen substantial quantities of British and Theater capable of accommodating the lost their lives. The Hump route was American cargo into western China number of transport aircraft required so dangerous and challenging with a to support the Chinese Revolutionary for a successful operation. To make one in three chance of surviving that Army’s war campaigns against matters worse, pilots were forced to each cargo mission was classified as a Japanese forces. The Japanese had fly blind into enemy lines without combat mission. “We went over with previously annexed China’s last reliable charts, radio navigation aids, or a squadron of 28 and we lost 20 in the railway connection with the Soviet first couple of weeks,” recalls Kilbride. Union and the Port of Rangoon, The WWII Veteran was awarded China’s last controlled port. The only eight Air Medals, four Flying Cross transportation route remaining was medals, and a medal from the Chinese airborne over the eastern part of the government honoring his support of the country’s war efforts. During his

16 The Mobility Forum AMC HERITAGE

yearlong assignment in India, Kilbride mountain. “If you were too low, you flew the tennis star Alice Marble, and flew 229 combat cargo missions to would hit the mountain instead of famous actors Ava Gardner and Pat transport supplies and passengers the . The copilot wasn’t low O’Brien to Burma,” he recalled. over The Hump and survived multiple enough to hit the mountain, but he was crashes and ejections. low enough to shear off the landing Kilbride returned home from the war gear and we skidded down the strip at 20 years of age and within just Kilbride flew The Hump nearly every on the belly of the plane. We survived two weeks, he pursued his dream of single day during his deployment but the plane was unsalvageable.” becoming a professional pitcher for in India and his aviation routes over the New York Yankees. He visited his the Himalayas spanned an average His crew was forced to jump from their former high school baseball coach and of one to one-and-a-half hours. plane on one occasion. “We had a 6x6 was invited to attend a Major League Navigating the Himalayas was so truck that was cut in pieces and put in Baseball (MLB) tryout at Ruppert difficult because planes were unable the back of our plane. It took a lot of Stadium in Newark, New Jersey, for to climb to a high enough altitude manipulating to make all the pieces fit. the most promising amateurs from to bypass the peaks altogether, and We lost an engine and couldn’t hold across the country. “I pitched three pilots were forced to weave through the altitude unless we dropped some innings, struck out eight [batters] and the mountains using a printed map, cargo weight, but there was no way the Yankees head scout came running airspeed, and a clock to navigate. we could get the cargo out in flight, over and wanted to take me up to so we had no choice but to bail out. the office to sign a contract,” stated “There was me, a copilot, and a We parachuted into the jungle of the Kilbride. He played for the Wellsville radio operator. The copilot and radio Naga Hills on the border of India and Yankees and Mayfield Clothiers operator had to calculate how fast we Burma. It took us 11 days to find our Minor League Baseball teams for three were going and time it to plot our way way out and we had to steer clear of years all while earning a Bachelor of through the mountains with a map the headhunters searching for Allied Science in chemical engineering. At as we flew through the valleys. The crewmembers that had survived 23, Kilbride left the Minor Leagues to challenge was we were flying strictly crashes. We mostly ate pineapples that pursue a career as a chemical engineer on rudimentary instruments because were growing wild.” with the Standard Oil Company in most of the time the weather was so New Jersey. bad, you couldn’t see anything. That’s Aside from delivering cargo, Kilbride why we lost so many planes because also had the pleasure of transporting This year, Kilbride, a decorated crews thought they were in one place distinguished generals and celebrities. WWII Vet, semi-pro baseball player, when they were in another part of the “I transported the General of the chemical engineer, and loving father Himalayas and would fly straight into Chinese First Army. I didn’t even know and husband celebrated his 50th a mountain,” explained Kilbride. he was on the airplane. One time, I wedding anniversary.

The veteran pilot recounted several close encounters with death. His crew crashed into a ditch on a landing strip in Burma that was partially occupied by Japanese troops. “The Japanese had one end of the strip so when we landed at the other end, we had to open fire to keep them from firing on us.”

During another mission, Kilbride’s copilot sheared the landing gear off the plane while attempting to land on a runway cut into the side of a

Mr. George Kilbride enjoys time with family and sharing his remarkable life story.

Fall 2019 17 AMC NEWS The KC-46 Provides Modernization and Fortification to AMC’s Fleet

BY MS. BRITTANY OLSON, STAFF WRITER

n January 25, 2019, the 22d Air From a technology standpoint, the aircraft is also performance-based navi- Refueling Wing and 931st Air KC-46 is superior to preceding refuel- gation (PBN)-enabled and compatible Refueling Wing of McConnell ing aircraft fleets and will limit aircrew with future digital, data-centric NGA OAir Force Base marshalled in dependence on analog techniques Aero products. the first two KC-46A Pegasus aircraft; and reduce response times to in-flight the Air Force’s newest refueler addition emergencies. The KC-46 will operate The long-awaited arrival of since the KC-10 Extender entered exclusively from National Geospatial- the Pegasus involved years of service in 1979. The development of the Intelligence Agency Aeronautical (NGA infrastructural construction including technologically advanced aircraft stems Aero) data with the capability to pro- from an effort to modernize AMC’s cess the agency’s Digital Aeronautical fleet and fortify the Air Force’s strategic Flight Information File (DAFIF). The arsenal. The KC-46 fleet will assure long-term, operational lethality and reach of DoD , airlift, and aeromedical evacuation missions, by contributing unique warfighting capabilities and offering tactical advantages and logistical flexibility for combatant commanders.

The KC-46A Pegasus fleet will total 179 tankers and ultimately replace the majority of the KC-135 Stratotankers that entered service in 1956. The new- est aircraft is a Boeing 767 commercial airliner that has been modified to hold 212,000 pounds of fuel, whereas the KC-135 has a capacity of 200,000 pounds. The Pegasus is equipped to service 64 different types of aircraft and can refuel at a rate of 1,200 gallons per minute.

18 The Mobility Forum AMC NEWS

three new maintenance hangars, “I’m humbled and honored to be part of technical training facilities and dormitories, and an air traffic control something that happens once in a generation. tower. Since the program’s inception, I’m excited to be part of the team that will every single Airman transferring to the KC-46 program has been hand-selected set the precedence on how this new weapons based on merit and qualifications to system will be employed in the future.” guarantee the establishment of an – Capt Andrew Kim accomplished, versatile team capable of overcoming any project challenge. extensive aircrew ground and in-flight of 2019 to Airmen from the 22d On February 26, 2019, 344th and 924th procedures including acceptance Maintenance Group for the start of Air Refueling Squadron crews executed checklists; egress, fire suppression, KC-46 training courses. Airman with the very first in-flight training mission and evacuation training; cargo, fueling 5- and 7-level maintenance skills and on the Pegasus and successfully and towing training; multiple engine prior KC-135 Stratotanker experience refueled a C-17 Globemaster III. The starts; and taxi checklists. Training will gradually transition to the KC-46 aircraft will not be fully operational exercises include regular cargo rodeos, after mastering operational checks and for months as Airmen prepare for in which KC-46 boom operators of the new systems on the aircraft. operational readiness during a 344th, 349th and 350th Air Refueling familiarization and initial operations Squadrons participate in simulated The training curriculum for KC-46 testing and evaluation period. The loading scenarios with planted mistakes maintenance Airmen entails rigorous familiarization phase consists of that crews are responsible for catching. hands-on experience of in-flight deck/ avionics, landing gear, flight control, “It is kind of a crawl, walk, run for us fuel system, aerial refueling and engine/ in this familiarization period as we lead auxiliary power unit, and advanced wir- up to the initial operations test,” said ing and electrical repair wiring. Boeing Maj Chris Markley, 931 ARW Program is currently developing 3D-simulation Integration Chief and 18 ARS pilot. courseware to augment and accelerate the classroom and hands-on education. “So, we’re going to fly a couple times a The courseware will enable students to week initially and then we’ll really start open and close doors, remove panels, turning all five of these airplanes and and complete operational check proce- get them all airborne,” explained Capt dures straight from their desktop, before Andrew Kim, 344 ARS pilot. physically performing the task on an actual aircraft. The KC-46A Pegasus Training Facility at McConnell Air Force “I’m humbled and honored to be part Base is responsible for developing of something that happens once in a the curriculum and administering generation. I’m excited to be part of the training to the entire KC-46 enterprise, team that will set the precedence on including international allies. The how this new weapons system will be facility opened its doors in April employed in the future,” said Kim.

A KC-46A Pegasus lands at McConnell AFB, KS. USAF photo illustration by A1C Alexi Myrick

Fall 2019 19 SAFETY CULTURE Air Transportation Standardization and Evaluation Program Evolves for Excellence

BY MS. KIM KNIGHT, STAFF WRITER

ost of us know the old our career field,” said MSgt Ryan Transportation Management career saying, “If it’s not broke, Vanterpool, Course Director. “In fields from the past to the present day. don’t fix it.” Just because conjunction with our stakeholders, “The second lesson is rules, responsi- Man object or process is not AMC wanted a formal three-day bilities, and lessons of how each cog fits broken, however, does not mean course to capture base training into the machine and how we all oper- there is not room for improvement through discussions, capstones, and ate together,” said Vanterpool. “The or updates. That was the case scenarios. It is meant to give new third lesson is reporting and going over with the recently restructured Air program managers, evaluators, and spreadsheets, including the way we Transportation Standardization and augmenters standardized training report information and to who, when, Evaluation Program (ATSEP) for before going back to the unit and and how. The last two lessons are the Aerial Port and Transportation hitting other prerequisites or doing evaluations and methods. In the evalu- Management career fields taught at the unsupervised evaluations.” ation process, we go over deficiencies. Expeditionary Center, Joint Base (JB) We have video scenarios we work in McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ. It took approximately 15 months to and there is a great deal of discussion.” plan and develop the course cur- “About two years ago, AMC [Air riculum before the first class began in The participants of the first class Mobility Command] kicked off the April 2019. It includes five lessons and included seasoned as well as brand ATSEP program, which is a revamped begins with an overview of the pro- new ATSEP managers, which and modernized system of quality gram and discussion about the quality generated positive crosstalk about the assurance that we have within assurance in the Aerial Port and refined processes. Vanterpool said,

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As humans, we all make mistakes, but it’s not about showcasing issues or pointing fingers. It is about examining areas that can be improved and identifying trends.

An Aerial Porter with the 35th Aerial Port Squadron, 514th Air Mobility Wing, marshals a Humvee onto a C-17 Globemaster III during a joint mobility exercise with the 851st Transportation Detachment, U.S. Army Reserve, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ. USAF photo by MSgt Mark C. Olsen

“It’s now a better alliance to the Air The shift to continual monitoring has out to accommodate crosstalk. “We Force Inspection System when we reduced deficiencies. Vanterpool said, might shorten the capstone because talk about deficiencies and constantly as humans, we all make mistakes, but it is pretty extensive. We are going evolving evaluations. From this, we it is not about showcasing issues or to simplify it so we can capture have more of a wingtip approach, pointing fingers. It is about examining simple, and direct, to-the-point which is the basis of the ATSEP where areas that can be improved and information. And we are going to you picture yourself looking at a identifying trends. For instance, if refilm some videos to make sure wingtip. It is the same concept when a trend is identified in a unit, AMC we are literally going total force evaluating ramp services, loading an should be made aware so reports and including our TMO [Traffic aircraft, or passenger services loading received from all aerial porters, Air Management Office] so that they processes. If the evaluator, or fully Mobility Squadrons, and Contingency are onboard with the same thing. qualified subject matter expert, notices Response Groups can be reviewed and You have to figure this ATSEP something, he or she can zoom into a changes made in on-the-job training program stemmed from an aerial more focused approach and [focus on] records if needed. port mindset, so we want to make the task steps. Whereas, [in] the old sure we cover that grey area and not ATSEP, certain tasks may have only Since the initial class, changes are lose our TMO brothers and sisters been inspected once a month. This being made to the course from feed- as they come to the class. We are one, it is continual like at three, four, back provided by participants. The going to make sure everyone who or even more looks per each line item, lesson plans will receive a few tweaks walks out of the class is on the same each month.” and time management will be ironed page,” Vanterpool said.

Fall 2019 21 MSgt Ronald Weaver

AMC NEWS From Rebellious Youth to Award-Winning Airman: MSgt Ronald Weaver, 921st Contingency Response Squadron (CRS), Travis AFB, CA

BY MR. MATT LIPTAK, STAFF WRITER he considered his options, the Marines military-style training,” Weaver said. seemed like an appealing choice, but “Once I went through there, I took my s a young man, MSgt Ronald his father steered him in the direction Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Weaver had found himself of the Air Force. Battery test [ASVAB]. My recruiter/ traveling a dead-end path after supervisor was a security forces Adeciding to leave high school Before he could enlist, however, he member and he talked to me a little before graduation. He was spending had to qualify to get in the Air Force bit about it, and I got accepted for too much time with the wrong people by restarting his education. He signed some other jobs, but with the path I and knew he needed a change of up for a boot camp-type program was heading, I needed something to direction. Weaver said, “I wanted to named the Youth Challenge Academy get me out of the town I was from as get out before it was too late.” in Fort Gordon, GA. He enrolled in the soon as possible. Security forces gave Delayed Enlistment Program for the me that option as well. I liked the Fortunately for Weaver, history was Air Force in 2001, while undergoing opportunities of light infantry work, on his side. His family roots in the the Fort Gordon training. weapons instructor, and K-9.” military went back four generations. His dad had been in the Army and “It’s a boot camp for youth where Joining the security forces opened up a Weaver lived in Panama and Germany you can get your high school diploma new world to Weaver and was perhaps while his dad was stationed there. As and GED through six months of the best choice he could have made.

22 The Mobility Forum AMC NEWS

With the Air Force, his life was on a new who had stolen a truck. Another Outstanding Security Forces Support trajectory where the sky was the limit. time he reported back on a suspected Staff award. These awards recognize It was a journey that has taken him ambush that was being set up by the accomplishments of officers and around the world and deep into learn- hostile forces. enlisted Airmen who demonstrate ing many aspects of the security field. the highest qualities of leadership in That deployment helped earn him an the performance of their duties and Weaver’s initial role in security forces achievement award. He later found conduct of their lives. was to provide security for Air Combat himself stationed in Kadena in Command nuclear forces. Okinawa in 2010 and then to Osan Air The CRW not only taught Base in Korea. While in Kadena he was Weaver said “It was an eye-opener.” deployed to Qatar as a police officer. It me“ how to make decisions, but Becoming a parent was part of the was in Kadena where he gained more working with so many other reason he decided to stay long-term in depth knowledge on how to be a career fields within our wing in the Air Force. After his daughter weapons instructor. It was in Osan that has also allowed me to grow in was born he reenlisted, going to he learned how to take charge on the in Italy for four spot, he told the Daily Republic. so many ways,” he said. “It has years. His work involved checking allowed me to see the Air Force out fellow Airmen on their knowledge His current station, however, has from a different lens and given of the base and areas of operations, been perhaps the most enlightening me the opportunity to see the weapons, and tactics. one. He is assigned to the 621st Contingency Response Wing and runs entire Air Force mission, not In 2007, Weaver was stationed at a team of 26 Airmen who specialize in just that of Security Forces.” sometimes frigid air base defense. in North Dakota. It was there he was Perhaps a more impactful reward of taught combat arms and immediately “[With] the Contingency Response Weaver’s service, however, has been turned that knowledge towards Wing [CRW], what I have gained the ability to help guide Airmen under training others on the use of small most from being here is just making him. He knows that his life course arms weaponry. decisions,” he said. “You are put in has not always been a straight line to situations at times and there may not be success and he wants to be there for A year later, he was sent on to a checklist to go off of … for example, if other Airmen who face obstacles in , CA. He was you have a gate runner you may have their careers. He strongly believes a also deployed overseas on multiple to have the lowest ranking Airmen little extra input can be the fuel they occasions. While he was based out of make a split second decision where need to take them to new heights. Aviano, he was deployed to Iraq for someone[‘s] life can depend on it. You two months. He was one of 30 sent don’t get that in the traditional security “l look at my background and from that base along with 70 other forces unit. It pushes you to do things understand that I was a late bloomer service members from other bases. at a level you never do from the lowest in the Air Force and was kind of ranking Airmen to myself as a MSgt.” hard-headed coming in,” he said. Weaver’s duty was unremarkable, “It took a few people to see past that but his service there turned out to be Weaver said that daily duty allows you and understand there was more [to notable. His major daily task was to to make major decisions at an earlier me] than what I was showing. I want prepare Conex shipping containers age and thus better grooms Airmen to be able to return what was taught for transport on vessels. He was also for future assignments. Airmen learn to me to other people. I have been detailed to patrol the area, keeping a to make sound decisions, which is a fortunate enough to have mentored close eye out for thieves. big piece of being a security forces a few [Airmen] and have watched member, he said. them grow in their careers. It [was] Mortar fire was a common occurrence, rewarding because, at the end of the he said. “At first, I would react, but Weaver must have learned his security day, when my time is done and I retire, after a while, I would not even get out forces lessons well. In 2017, he was those memories will hold more than of my cot,” he confided to the Daily the Air Mobility Command nominee anything else. It will be the impact I Republic. During his time in Iraq, he for the Lance P. Sijan Leadership have had on peoples’ lives that matters helped to chase down a young thief Award and won the Air Force the most to me.”

Fall 2019 23 AMC NEWS PHOENIX SPARK: Innovation for Tomorrow’s

Warfighters, Today no harness support for an extended period of time. This is not an ideal situation safety-wise, particularly BY MS. ARYN KITCHELL, STAFF WRITER while the aircraft banks and possibly performs quick, evasive maneuvers.

To avoid standing during operations, hoenix Spark got its start in Fernandez described Phoenix Spark some loadmasters had taken matters February 2016 as the Travis Air as a day-to-day grind of Airmen into their own hands and hooked Force Base Innovation Office innovating from the bottom up. cargo straps, not intended for human Pand was developed to leverage Airmen throughout the base have ideas use, onto parts of the airplane that Airmen’s ideas to deliver rapid for solutions to their daily pain points were not meant to be latched on to, innovation to the Warfighter. They and the Phoenix Spark team takes those said Fernandez. This misuse resulted developed a culture to solve base- ideas, embraces them, and develops in injuries. level issues, discover opportunities for ways to turn them into reality. growth, and to partner with experts in In response to the loadmaster’s need industry and academia. In April 2017, In the last year, Phoenix for safe physical support, Phoenix former AMC Commander General Spark at Travis AFB Spark had loadmasters from the 22d Carlton Everhart officially signed a Airlift Squadron work with the Air charter cementing Phoenix Spark as has completed 45 Force Research Laboratory’s Junior AMC’s innovation office. projects, with another 72 Force Warfighters Operations in RX, or JFWORX, to prototype the sling. Today, there are over 30 bases with suggestions in the queue, According to Fernandez, the prototype Phoenix Spark cells, according to according to Fernandez. has been completed. Capt Kris Fernandez of the 60th Air Mobility Wing’s Phoenix Spark Hub One of Phoenix Spark’s successes began Even though Phoenix Spark usually at Travis AFB, CA. Since the creation in 2017 when they developed, in-house, churns out physical tools to solve of the Travis cell, AFWERX, an Air an aircraft-mounted electronic flight pain points, Fernandez thinks of the Force team of innovators, has helped bag holder for the C-17 Globemaster III. initiative not as just a tool builder establish Spark cells at other bases not “An identical EFB mount has now but as a critical thinker. “Spark exists just in the United States, but across proliferated throughout the C-5 for things more than just developing the world with the addition of Shogun community and is now installed on tools. We’re here to help people think Spark at , Japan. every aircraft,” said Fernandez. through problems,” said Fernandez.

At Travis AFB, the Phoenix Spark team Another pain point brought to To increase flight safety, Phoenix hosts a weekly Spark Rally where the attention of the Phoenix Spark Spark is hoping to improve ground Airmen come to pitch their ideas or team was the working environment training. They want to do this by their pain points. “Then the team helps for loadmasters during combat pushing into the augmented, virtual, them work through the problem,” said operations in C-5M Super Galaxies. and mixed reality realms, explained Fernandez. Of course, Airmen can also The loadmaster’s flight safety duties Fernandez. These solutions could contact the Phoenix Spark team through frequently involve being in the cargo augment existing training methods email, phone calls, and on their website compartment of the airplane during while lowering risk, increasing overall at www.travisSPARK.org. critical phases of flight in combat with training availability, and mitigating

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Professionals from across industry, academia and government tour a C-5M Super Galaxy during a base visit as part of a Phoenix Collider event at Travis AFB, CA, Aug. 1, 2017. USAF photo by SSgt Charles Rivezzo

Photo below, left: TSgt Zachary George, 60 AMW Phoenix Spark Lab Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, works with computer animation software to design a safe at Travis AFB, CA. George designed a plate that will securely attach a GSA-approved safe to the floor of a KC-10 Extender, allowing aircrew members to store weapons and other sensitive materials on the aircraft. USAF photo by Louis Briscese

the high cost of operating real-world aircraft, all while keeping safety as a top priority.

While Phoenix Spark is the day-to- day innovation grind happening at Travis, AFWERX is an Air Force- wide program that creates a network of innovation with numerous bases during their yearly event called Spark Collider. This July at the AFWERX Fusion Xperience in Las Photo above: Jeffrey Bruns, 60th Maintenance Squadron Vegas, AFWERX and the Air Force sheet metal shop template utilized grants under the Small maker, cuts holes into a plate Business Innovation Research at Travis AFB, CA. program (SBIR) to partner pain USAF photo by Louis Briscese points with startup companies that can prototype a solution relatively rapidly. Companies can receive up to $1.875 million from the SBIR office Photo left: Lt Col Karen Landale, after funds matching to develop 773d Enterprise Sourcing prototype solutions to Warfighter Squadron Commander, tests a virtual reality simulator. problems. From there, the companies have to prove the feasibility of their USAF photo by Armando Perez proposed solution before they are approved to move on to phase three. “The point of the program is to rapidly iterate with a fail forward type of mentality that ultimately brings out the solution the Warfighter wants,” said Fernandez.

Phoenix Spark and its partnering programs provide innovation so our Air Force can continue to be one Finalists from the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center’s inaugural Innovation Rodeo step ahead of the rest of the world, toured AFWERX’s Austin, TX hub. The finalists experienced a virtual reality lab and practiced their pitches to different companies. The top three finalists receive $200,000 to get their ideas to and our Airmen can have their prototype via AFWERX and other tech accelerators. The hub is located in the Capital Factory, an voices heard and their tools and incubator for tech start-ups and entrepreneurs. ideas implemented. USAF photo by Armando Perez

Fall 2019 25 MAFFs Airmen Get Ready to Roll When Wildfire Season Heats Up

AMC NEWS he U.S. Forest Service reports expected to continue for decades. USA that extended fire seasons, Today reported the National Climate larger fires, and more area Assessment expects the area burned Tburned each year has led to by wildfires will double nationwide as more extreme fires. This unfortunate global warming leads to even longer combination has led to a stronger wildfire seasons and more frequent firefighting response, including the use droughts until at least 2044. of the Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) in C-130s to augment In a U.S. Senate hearing this past fire suppression efforts. June, Jeff Rupert, Director of the Office of Wildland Fire for the Interior MAFFS is a critical asset to firefighters Department, told Congress that this because it is able to disperse up to year’s fire season could be as bad as 3,000 gallons of fire retardant in just last year’s, which included the Camp 10 seconds or less over a quarter-mile Fire, the most expensive and deadliest front. The remarkable system fits into fire in ’s history. Last season the back of a C-130. Fire retardant is also included the Mendocino Complex released through a nozzle on the rear Fire, which charred more than 700 left side of the aircraft. square miles in California.

The 302d Airlift Wing, Peterson AFB, “It’s hard to imagine a repeat of this CO, is the single Air Force Reserve experience, but this is the potential unit assigned to the MAFFS mission. reality that we face again this year,” The three Air National Guard wings Rupert said. “So it’s difficult for me tasked to carry out MAFFS missions to sit here this morning and say that are the 146th Airlift Wing from Channel a challenging year is ahead of us, Islands, California, 152d Airlift Wing because the wildfires that we’re now from Reno, Nevada, and the 153d experiencing are consistently more BY MR. MATT LIPTAK, STAFF WRITER Airlift Wing from Cheyenne, Wyoming. destructive than they’ve ever been,” Rupert warned. These units are expected to keep busy over the coming fire seasons. The trend In such trying times the benefit of the of larger and more frequent fires is MAFFS system and the Airmen who

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Safety is a critical element to successfully carrying out any MAFFS mission.

Guard, U.S. Forest Service, and other firefighting departments undertook a week’s worth of aerial wildland firefighting training and certification directed by the Air Force Reserve’s 302d Airlift Wing.

Col James DeVere, 302d Airlift Wing A C-130 from 302 AW equipped with a USDA Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS II) Commander, said that training is vital drops water as part of MAFFS training and recertification to the mission. ”We are able to battle at Grand Canyon Hills, CO, May 6, 2019. wildfires as one seamless interagency USANG photo by SSgt Jon Alderman team working with the U.S. Forest Service because of the training we do together,” he said. use it is easy to see. The system is built International Airport were dedicated to by the United Aeronautical and Blue the men. As reported by North Carolina Knowing how to properly use the Aerospace companies. On the MAFFS Air National Guard Public Affairs, Maj MAFFS is an integral part of that website, they herald the system as the Joel Kingdon, 156th Airlift Squadron, mission. “Wildland fire management only C-130 roll-on/roll-off retardant commemorated the Airmen’s sacrifice agencies have relied on MAFFS for delivery system. It is designed in close by saying “These Airmen selflessly more than 40 years to provide a surge coordination with U.S. Forest Service, gave their lives executing our C-130 capacity when commercial air tankers U.S. Air Force, and Lockheed Martin. Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System are fully committed or not readily The pressurized tank allows untethered mission while fighting the White Draw available, as they frequently are during operations and it installs/uninstalls Fire in South Dakota. Today we say periods of high wildfire activity,” said in less than an hour. According to thank you to the Families for their Kim Christensen, Deputy Assistant the website, the trailer and necessary sacrifice, and we forever memorialize Director for Operations for the ground support equipment are our fallen heroes by dedicating these U.S. Forest Service. “Training that included for storage and installation. buildings to serve as a lasting tribute of includes all of the military and civilian their service to our country.” personnel who work together when Although the technology sounds MAFFS are mobilized is critical to straightforward and streamlined, The investigation that followed the ensure that military aircraft fly safely that is not always the case for the crash indicated that communication and effectively and that they can be actual missions. Like much of the between the lead plane and the C-130 seamlessly integrated into wildfire work Airmen do, risk is part of the that crashed played a role in the suppression operations.” job. Courage is not optional. In July tragedy. As with all Air Force missions, of 2012, four Airmen died while on a training plays a key role in keeping With the growing threat of wildfires MAFFS mission in South Dakota when future accidents from occurring. Safety from a changing climate, Airmen are a microburst of turbulent air out of a is a critical element to successfully sure to be busy with their C-130s and thunderstorm caused them to crash. carrying out any MAFFS mission. MAFFS well into the future. When Two Airmen survived, but Lt Col Paul their country calls, Airmen answer. K. Mikeal, Maj Joseph McCormick, Maj As such, Airmen and their civilian In executing a successful mission, Ryan S. David, and SMSgt Robert S. counterparts are always training and safety must be kept as a high priority. Cannon lost their lives in the crash. certifying for MAFFS missions. In Proper training leads to effective safety May of this year, they were already standard operating procedures. By This past June four buildings at gearing up for the new fire season by keeping Airmen safer, those threatened the North Carolina Air National going through training. Nearly three by wildfire can also be made safer until Guard Base at the Charlotte Douglas hundred people from the Air National that final ember is extinguished.

Fall 2019 27 FLIGHT SAFETY Tackling Turbulence A 24/7 Mission

BY MR. MATTHEW LIPTAK, walk in the aircraft with ease. With flying operations and are used by STAFF WRITER moderate turbulence, there are forecasters at 618 AOC to create the variations in attitude and/or control turbulence charts found in crew urbulence is the irregular and variations in airspeed, but the papers,” Snider explained. motion of the air resulting from aircraft remains in positive control. In eddies and vertical currents. the interior, however, walking becomes Of course, not all turbulence is cut T It is usually not much more difficult and objects are dislodged. from the same cloth. According to than an annoyance to a pilot and weather.gov, there are different causes their passengers, but the weather The next two levels of turbulence of turbulence giving the weather phenomena, in its more extreme are of more serious concern. Severe phenomena different characteristics. varieties, can cause the pilot to turbulence leads to large abrupt Turbulence is found to come from four temporarily lose control of the aircraft changes in altitude and/or attitude, different sources. or even cause structural damage. Due and variations in speed. The aircraft to its unpredictable nature, turbulence can be momentarily out of control. Mechanical turbulence can be defined is a constant concern for forecasters Walking in the interior of the aircraft as friction caused by the interaction and mission planners at the 618th Air is impossible. For extreme turbulence, of the air and the ground. Irregular Operations Center (AOC) located at the aircraft is tossed about and is terrain and man-made objects cause , IL. impossible to control, and structural eddies and turbulence in the lower damage to the aircraft may result. levels as a result. The magnitude “Light and moderate turbulence occurs of this turbulence depends on the fairly regularly, and no special steps To mitigate these problems and threats strength of the surface wind, the are taken to mitigate the forecast,” caused by turbulence, the 618 AOC nature of the surface and the stability explained MSgt Ryan Snider, the applies intense diligence. The Air of the air. Manager of the Weather Plans Division, Force weather model, Global Air- 618 AOC. “However, severe and Land Weather Exploitation Model Another form of turbulence is extreme turbulence must be avoided (GALWEM), produces a computer- thermal or convective turbulence. and will require flight planners to generated 140-hour turbulence forecast On warmer days, the earth’s surface change the route or planned altitude to every six hours, Snider said. Weather can be unevenly heated by the mitigate the threat.” technicians at the 15th Operational sun. Some surfaces, like the barren Weather Squadron (OWS) continuously ground or rocky and sandy areas, Turbulence is categorized into four refine the first 30 hours of the forecast by are heated more rapidly than are levels of intensity. The first level, light analyzing real-time data and incorporat- grass-covered fields and water. turbulence, can momentarily cause ing turbulence forecasting techniques. Isolated convective currents are slight erratic changes in attitude or then set in motion with warm air altitude. On the inside of the aircraft, “The 30-hour turbulence forecasts rising and cooler air descending, unsecured objects may become slightly issued by the 15 OWS are the which can cause the aircraft to have displaced, and it is still possible to authoritative source for Air Force a bumpy ride.

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is is the Turbulence Fast wind irregular motion of the air resulting from eddies and vertical currents. Causes: • Wind Aircraft can drop or • Storms change altitude suddenly Slow wind • Jet stream • Objects near the plane (particularly mountain ranges)

The presence of turbulence requires a great deal of attention from pilots, flight With all this and more to consider, planners, and weather forecasters alike. pilots, planners, and forecasters must know how much is too much Frontal Turbulence is caused by conditions. Safety is paramount regarding turbulence and flying the collision between two oppos- with flying, and monitoring aircraft safely. In very extreme cases ing air masses where the sloping conditions for turbulence is one aircrew may even turn back. After all, frontal zone causes friction and, as of the keys to ensuring it. Since safety is job one. a result, turbulence. This type of turbulence is such a common turbulence is most notable when occurrence, including severe “Pilots will coordinate with ATC [air warm, unstable air impacts colder turbulence, vigilance is required. traffic controllers] to change altitude air and can be very severe if there or heading to find smoother air,” are thunderstorms present. “Severe and extreme turbulence can Snider explained,” In the meantime, cause a pilot to lose control of an each aircraft has power settings Finally, wind shear is the change in aircraft and are always avoided,” and airspeeds recommended by the wind direction and/or wind speed Snider noted. “Moderate turbulence manufacturer to relieve stress on the over a specific horizontal or vertical can be uncomfortable, especially for aircraft and maximize safety, and distance. Wind shear can even occur aircrew and passengers, so pilots our mobility pilots are well versed during high altitude flights. will adjust the aircraft’s path and in adapting to weather conditions to altitude as needed to find calmer guarantee the safety of the crew.” “It is sometimes referred to as air. Moderate turbulence also makes Clear Air Turbulence [CAT] and is air refueling difficult since it can The presence of turbulence requires commonly associated with the jet be challenging for the tanker and a great deal of attention from stream,” explained Snider. “Low- receiver to maintain a connection.” pilots, flight planners, and weather level wind shear is a specific type forecasters alike. Safety demands they of wind shear that can be especially Severe turbulence is very common have the best, most current data on the dangerous to flight operations since it in and around thunderstorms due phenomena around the clock. It is an can disrupt flight performance in the to strong updrafts and downdrafts ever-present challenge, but one that, critical stages of take-off and landing. associated with the storm, he said. with the help of Air Force units like Doppler radars measure horizontal At higher altitudes near the jet 618 AOC, can be well mitigated. wind flow and can be a useful tool for stream, severe thunderstorms can observing turbulence, especially in the occur due to the stronger winds “Due to its unpredictable nature, lower levels of the atmosphere. Abrupt found in that area. Also, severe turbulence is one of the most difficult changes in wind speed or direction are mountain wave turbulence, a form of weather hazards to forecast,” Snider often a tell-tale sign of wind shear.” mechanical turbulence, is commonly concluded. “Forecasters rely heavily on found downwind of mountainous pilot reports to validate and, if needed, Both planners and forecasters for 618 terrain when a strong wind flows amend turbulence forecasts to provide AOC always keep a close eye on wind perpendicular to the terrain. the best possible product.”

Fall 2019 29 Airmen assigned to the 435th Contingency Response Group, Ramstein AB, Germany, supporting Airmen from the 435th Contingency Response Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), set up a forward operating location at Group, Ramstein AB, Germany, carry U.S. Agency Beira Airport, Mozambique, April 2, 2019, for the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) relief effort for International Development (USAID) supplies in the Republic of Mozambique and surrounding areas following Cyclone Idai. at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, April 1, 2019. USAF photo by SSgt Corban Lundborg USAF photo by SSgt Franklin R. Ramos

AMC NEWS 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing, Ramstein, Germany, Provides Humanitarian Aid in Mozambique

BY DR. ANDREW WACKERFUSS, 521 AMOW HISTORIAN

yclone Idai, the ’s Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Madagascar. (AMW) at , worst cyclone in a century, hit All told, the death toll numbered at California, and the 436th Airlift the southeast coast of Africa least 1,000 fatalities, and the larger Wing (AW) at , Cin March of this year, leaving devastation meant that the true total Delaware, in conjunction with airlift death and destruction in its wake. Idai may never be known. wings from other air bases, provided first made landfall in Mozambique crews and aircraft to assist in the on March 14 as a tropical depression Beira is Mozambique’s fourth-largest humanitarian aid. State Department causing flooding in the port city of city. Some of its areas lie beneath sea diplomats from around the world Beira. Once inland, however, the level, making it especially vulnerable coordinated with joint forces storm turned in a circle and dumped to flooding. Access to the city by road personnel at the United States Africa even more water over the region as grew increasingly difficult throughout Command at Kelley Barracks in it traveled back over Beira and out the storm and eventually ceased Stuttgart, Germany, and the Combined to sea. Idai reversed course again, altogether when a dam burst and Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF- intensified into a devastating cyclone, inundated the last major open road. HOA) in Djibouti and Mozambique and charged back for a catastrophic With the city completely cut off by also provided personnel who were second landfall on March 15. land, air mobility offered the only eager to assist. possible way to provide vital supplies. The storm caused massive flooding, From March 24 to April 13, the CJTF- intense wind damage, numerous road U.S. relief agencies called for a global HOA flew 120 missions to deliver 782 and bridge collapses, and an immense response for aid with assets coming tons of supplies to the battered nation. loss of life across a 1,200 square from the United States, Europe, and This rapid response and coordination mile region including Mozambique, Africa. The 60th Air Mobility Wing of supplies involving various agencies

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Local men assist in humanitarian relief efforts at Beira Airport, Mozambique, April 2, 2019, during humanitarian relief efforts in the Republic of Mozambique and surrounding areas. USAF photo by SSgt Corban Lundborg

The exceptional cooperation A single mission on March 30 of operational checks. Such a repair demonstrated how these three is normally only done at an aircraft’s among the three wings at wings work seamlessly to conduct home station, but the AMXS crews Ramstein demonstrates a humanitarian aid operation when accomplished it in a few hours and disaster strikes and unexpected quickly returned the aircraft to service why it is the world’s problems arise. in time to stay on its mission. premier platform for The 435 AGOW was the first on the Upon arrival, the C-17A delivered delivering intercontinental ground in Mozambique, arriving pallets of supplies that had been built humanitarian aid. March 26 to assess local conditions in the United States and handled and set up reliable airfields. Once at Ramstein by the “port dogs” would not have been possible without established, 435 AGOW provided of the 521 AMOW’s 721st Aerial relying on in local aerial port services, managed the Port Squadron. In Africa, crews southwestern Germany. airfield, and controlled air traffic. offloaded the needed goods under the watchful eyes of a RAVEN Team At Ramstein, three wings stand ready A C-17A belonging to the 62 AW of security forces specialists, based at all times to deliver and support at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, out of Charleston, and supported humanitarian airlift operations of this Washington, and flown by an aircrew by Ramstein’s 313th Expeditionary scale. The host wing, the 86th Airlift from ’s 437 AW Operations Support Squadron. Wing, provides C-130s and other in South Carolina, was one of the airlift capacities while administering aircraft used to deliver the much- The exceptional cooperation the base as a whole. The 435th Air needed supplies. This aircraft, which among the three wings at Ramstein Ground Operations Wing (AGOW) had already extended its deployment demonstrates why it is the world’s assesses airfields, deploys personnel, to support the relief mission, suddenly premier platform for delivering and sets up airfields in needed revealed a serious fuel pressurization intercontinental humanitarian aid. locations. The 521st Air Mobility issue and had to divert back to Their remarkable services allow a Operations Wing (AMOW) supplies Ramstein. Maintenance crews at vast array of other mission partners— aerial port services, command and the 521 AMOW’s 721st Aircraft from other Air Force wings, to joint control, operational support of Maintenance Squadron (AMXS) components, to U.S. and international deployed personnel, and maintenance quickly accomplished a 600 flight-hour aid agencies—the ability to rush teams standing ready around the hard point inspection, which involved urgently-needed, strategic-level clock to keep C-5s and C-17s flying changing the engine and gearbox oil assistance to nations battered by throughout the theater. filters, and then performed a full array storms and disasters.

Fall 2019 31 MOTORCYCLE CULTURE Mentorship and New Perspectives Create Dover’s Motorcycle Program

BY MS. ARYN KITCHELL, STAFF WRITER

or five years, the Airmen of invites speakers and other vendors, Motorcycle Safety Day attendees participate Dover AFB, DE, have celebrated such as race drivers, to come and in a group ride April 13, 2018, at Dover AFB, DE. The group cruised through the base and zero Class A or B motorcycle speak to their Airmen about safety finished at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Fmishaps. On a base with 300 on their Motorcycle Safety Day, but range for a social event. motorcycle riders, this is no small they also make it an enjoyable day USAF photo by A1C Zoe M. Wockenfuss feat. This accomplishment took an for their riders. For example, if they excellent safety program, a hands-on invite a local motorcycle dealership, safety team, and a little bit of luck to the dealership will provide different are involved with their members and make it happen. motorcycles for the Airmen to ride. which members ride motorcycles. They also pass out freebies like t-shirts Sgt Kenneth Reid, 436th Airlift and T-CLOCS (safety pre-check cards). Reid also thinks the mentorship Wing Occupational Safety and Wing program has a lot to do with keeping Motorcycle Safety representative, For their mentorship program, Dover his 300 riders up to date on their spoke about why he thinks Dover’s has created a layer of motorcycle certifications. “If you don’t have program has been so successful. He representatives in each of their the right type of mentorship in the particularly wanted to stress the squadrons who help extend the reach squadron, it [staying certified] can benefits of their Motorcycle Safety of their Safety Office. Those men and go by the wayside,” he noted. The Days—held in mid-April—and their women take the initiative to mentor motorcycle representatives reach out mentorship program. the riders underneath them in their to those in their squadrons who need squadrons, usually by choosing which to update their training and ensure the “Our Motorcycle Safety Days are a big safety modules to teach and how they recertification is done. part of what we do. And you know we want to teach them. For Reid, this like to reach out to other communities creates a hands-on culture that lets him One of the things the Motorcycle and vendors,” said Reid. Dover often know as a safety leader which units Safety Office teaches their mentors is

32 The Mobility Forum MOTORCYCLE CULTURE

to get to know their riders and reach A lot of the time, those riders will makes you feel appreciated,” Reid out to them often. “What we do by admit their near misses were from said. For him, he enjoys seeing all his mentoring is we try to make sure to get complacency, Reid said. That contact hard work pay off and being recog- everybody together quarterly,” said has become a great tool for Reid and nized by the many riders on base. Reid. Gathering everyone is important the team to learn when people have for the mentors. Then there is the job developed bad trends and habits. By Since he’s not a rider, motorcycles are of making contact monthly, at least by identifying those trends and habits not necessarily a passion for him, he email, said Reid. This contact is to have and creating a strong mentorship mentioned. Going through his expe- a conversation, see if the rider needs program, he hopes his riders have rience of being a part of the Dover anything, and make sure they are not learned to check their bad habits at Motorcycle Safety Program, however, overdue on any training. the door. “When you ignore mishaps, has made him admire riding and see that’s when they can actually come to the need and necessity for motor- Dover has a working relationship fruition,” he said. cycle safety measures. He thinks it is with the Delaware DMV, which is possible he may look at motorcycle conveniently only 20 minutes down As for what makes him proud of his programs differently than other safety the road from Dover AFB, said Reid. job, Reid noted that, at first, he did representatives who are riders, but Those riders who want to go the extra not know anything about motorcycle he also noted he has seen the passion mile and become a rider coach go to safety, as he is not a rider himself. really come through safety representa- the DMV and are trained to teach other However, after his first Motorcycle tives who do ride motorcycles. Both riders the DMV motorcycle safety Safety Day, he saw how much rid- riders and non-riders give different course. These rider coaches can then ers value what he and his team were perspectives, he said, and together retrain Airmen at Dover AFB, rather doing for them. “Honestly, it’s a whole they are able to meld everything than having to send every rider to the bunch of work that sometimes you together into Dover’s very successful DMV for retraining. would rather not do, but the end result Motorcycle Safety Program.

Like their Motorcycle Safety Days, the team at Dover also likes to organize morale rides. For a morale ride, Dover bikers get together and go on a 30-minute ride, but prior to the ride, the rider coach gives the riders safety training. According to Reid, the rider coach chooses whichever modules from the DMV course program they want to teach. “They talk safety for a little bit, and you know, enjoy each other and have fun,” he said.

As for Reid, he takes great care to not ignore any of the “near misses” that have happened at Dover. He clarified that some accidents were recordable, which means a rider had to submit a mishap report, but since the rider did not receive anything more than first aid medical attention, it is filed as a different kind of report, not a Class A or B mishap. “You can either say, ‘Okay, well I’m just going to file this,’ and you never speak to the guy. Instead what A sea of bikes fills the Motorcycle Safety Foundation range during the Motorcycle Safety Day, you should be doing is going to reach April 13, 2018, at Dover AFB, DE. More than 200 riders from the base attended the Annual Pre- out to that person and say, ‘Hey, why Season Brief and many stayed to enjoy the day’s events. or how did this happen?’” USAF photo by A1C Zoe M. Wockenfuss

Fall 2019 33 BACK TO SCHOOL Taking Care On Campus: Applying Situational Awareness as New Semesters Start This Fall

LEVEL 1 SITUATIONAL AWARENESS Assessing the characteristics of your environment. This level is comprised of recognizing the parts or elements that, together, work to determine BY MR. MATT LIPTAK, STAFF WRITER the situation. Level 1 identifies critical parts of the circumstances and their meaning so enhanced understanding can be developed at further levels. ituational awareness can be described as assessing the characteristics of your LEVEL 2 Senvironment in the dimension SITUATIONAL AWARENESS of time and space, understanding the meaning of what you are perceiving Understanding your current situation. This level is the result of converging from those characteristics, and then all Level 1 characteristics to develop the larger picture, pattern, or tactical accurately forecasting the situation situation. Level 2 is used to ascertain the present circumstances in in the near future so you can make operationally valid terms to allow fast decisionmaking and action. effective decisions.

Having good situational awareness LEVEL 3 is vital in many circumstances for SITUATIONAL AWARENESS those who serve. It can also be useful Forecasting the future situation. This level is achieved by advancing current to retain situational awareness when circumstances into the future in order to try to predict how a tactical Airmen and their family and friends situation is going to evolve. Level 3 bolsters short-term planning and the head back to school this fall. It is evaluation of options when time allows. just one way to keep your learning experience safe as it becomes time to hit the books once again. So how does all this situational The prevailing strategy amongst awareness apply to a carefree stroll law enforcement thinkers on how to According to Mica Endsley’s article around a campus quad or studying avoid violence for those confronted in Human Factors: The Journal of the in a classroom? Sexual assaults and with developing situations seems Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, active shooters can be grim realities on to be: run, hide, and fight. In other situational awareness can be further today’s campuses. In order to avoid words, the first and best response to broken down from the elements becoming a victim when confronted a developing confrontation should be provided in the initial definition. with such a threat, situational to evade the bad actor. This reaction Doing so may help you modify this awareness can be used to mitigate the may be counterintuitive to the military skillset so you can apply it to your danger and devise potential solutions ethos, but in a campus situation, where campus experience. in an apparently no-win situation. you would most likely be without a

34 The Mobility Forum BACK TO SCHOOL

weapon to defend yourself, evasion is can help to keep you safe on campus, Cameras are essential to campus thought to often be the best policy. school officials are looking for other security. They can identify issues in ways to prevent or deal with threats. real time wherever they are placed. Concealment, or hiding, is akin to Increasingly, in 2019, they have been They can enhance the situational evasion. Examples can be seen in the turning to technology. awareness of law enforcement mandatory lockdowns that often take arriving on the scene. place at schools that receive a threat. According to the magazine Campus If a predator cannot find you, they Security and Life Safety, tip lines, digital An access control system secures cannot attack you. Law enforcement checklists, cameras, access control, and entryways and controls who can is most likely on the way and can communication tools are all legitimate get where. They can be vital to a confront the perpetrator. technological assets to bring to the sprawling campus that has thousands campus to keep it secure. Added to a of students, faculty, and visitors. After assessing your situation, you situationally-aware student body and may decide that going on the offensive faculty, campuses of the future will Communication tools are often is your best chance, or only chance, of hopefully always be peaceful places to critical to keeping the campus as survival. As has been evident in some be educated. secure as possible during an incident attacks this year, this strategy can also and can be effective in not allowing save lives by delaying the perpetrators’ Tip lines can take advantage of the eyes a bad situation to get worse. advancement and, hopefully, by and ears of the people who are often the Streamlining a communication disabling the target. most perceptive and prolific on cam- system to provide alerts to students pus—the students. Colleges offering a and faculty along many channels is Situational awareness can be used at tip line app to students can eliminate vital to campus security. all times, not only when the threat is threats before they are acted upon. clear and present. Keeping your head Technology may be advancing up and eyes open and away from Formatting safety checklists for a to keep our colleges safer, but your mobile device will allow you to digital format or even for the Cloud situational awareness can offer assess your current situation. Trouble is also an advancement. Using digital no-cost and very effective security. assessed from a distance can be trouble forms for safety procedures makes the Assessing your environment averted before things get dangerous. process both more accessible and more in the moment and evaluating transferable. This format provides easy the right decision to make is Although situational awareness and access to the safety guidelines and it is the most reliable way to stay the mantra of run, hide, and fight easily shareable. safe this semester.

Fall 2019 35 SUICIDE PREVENTION Taking a Look at Commercial Airborne Safety During National Suicide Prevention Month

BY MR. MATT LIPTAK, STAFF WRITER

n the spring of 2015, Andreas Lubitz, waited until the commanding pilot had the copilot of Germanwings Flight left the cockpit and he was completely 9525, flew into the side of a mountain alone before locking the cockpit door. Iin the French Alps. Evidence suggests that Lubitz planned the act when he When he got back to the cockpit, the locked the commanding pilot out of the commanding pilot tried desperately to cockpit after the other man had gone open the door, apparently even using for a bathroom break. In addition to a crowbar at one point. The door was himself, Lubitz killed 149 other people designed to be tamper-proof, however, from 12 countries. because making secure cockpits a priority had been a consequence of the Carsten Spohr, the Chief Executive 9/11 hijackings in 2001. of Lufthansa in 2015 and a former A320 pilot, seemed to doubt flight Although an emergency code is 9525 should be considered an act of available to allow entry into the suicide alone. cockpit, it can be disengaged by a determined person inside the “I am not a legal expert,” he said, cockpit. An obvious answer to this adding, “If a person takes 149 other challenge is to require two airline people to their deaths with him, there employees to be in the cockpit at is another word than suicide.” all times. This regulation is some- thing the United States had already September is National Suicide instituted at the time of the crash, Awareness Month. We are looking but Europe had not. After the back at the safeguards that were crash, however, several European implemented to ensure a crash like airlines began instituting the Flight 9525 does not happen again. measure independent of the European Aviation Safety To find out what could be done, Agency’s requirements. Those investigators examined what actually airlines included EasyJet, happened on that fateful flight. Lubitz Ryanair, and Lufthansa.

36 The Mobility Forum MISHAP-FREE FLYING HOUR MILESTONES

6,500 HOURS 3,500 HOURS MSgt Kent Bohart 92 ARS, Fairchild AFB, WA MSgt Griff Burdette Lt Col Stephen Aldridge 310 AS, MacDill AFB, FL 384 ARS, McConnell AFB, KS MSgt Bart Watts Lt Col Brian Mack SMSgt Arturo Zavala Lt Col Earl Ardales Lt Col Michael Street Lt Col Travis Christensen 179 AW, Mansfield, OH 5,000 HOURS Maj Kendall Brown Lt Col Matthew Dibble Lt Col Matt Crowe Maj Cameron Czarniecki 384 ARS, McConnell AFB, KS Lt Col Jeffery Webb 166 AW, New Castle, DE Maj Stephen Massey MSgt Chad Holloway Maj Justin Davis Lt Col Julian Jacobson Maj Robert Miller Maj Travis Smith 310 AS, MacDill AFB, FL Maj Robert Sherlock SMSgt Mike O’Connor 133 ARS, Pease ANGB, NH Maj James Long Capt Nicholaus Herr Lt Col Nelson Abreu 310 AS, MacDill AFB, FL SSgt Kilian Stone 180 AS, St. Joseph, MO Lt Col Joseph Corpening Lt Col Michael Charles Col John Cluck Lt Col Brady Oh 91 ARS, MacDill AFB, FL Lt Col Brandon Leifer Lt Col Doug Bailey Lt Col Gregg Van Splunder Lt Col Christopher Power Lt Col Carol Mitchell Maj Robin Patton Maj Jeffery Davis Lt Col Jeffrey Quick Lt Col Steven Schnoebelen Capt Lamont Wood Maj Walter Hale Maj Michael Bargiel Maj Phillip Battles CMSgt Terry Godfrey Maj Jackson McFarland Maj Seth Hutcheson Maj Jeffery Moss CMSgt Rodney McIntosh Maj Wiley Semrau Maj Douglas Karl Maj Adam Wantuck CMSgt Dave Shultz 1Lt Geoffery Schultz Maj Ryan King MSgt Phebe Frye SMSgt Mark Hummer SMSgt Michael Girouard Maj Ryan Troxel SMSgt Daryl Schildknecht 180 AS, St. Joseph, MO SMSgt Daniel Luter Capt Stephen Kemp Col Byron Newell 166 AW, New Castle, DE MSgt Alan Beaulieu SMSgt Jason Resler Lt Col Sean Baker Lt Col Jeremy Goodwin MSgt James Marier MSgt John Hester Lt Col Brian Diven TSgt Nathan Tarleton 2,500 HOURS 133 ARS, Pease ANGB, NH Lt Col Greg Hay Lt Col Jason Denton Lt Col Tom Kampmeyer 93 ARS, Fairchild AFB, WA 384 ARS, McConnell AFB, KS CMSgt Michael George Lt Col Cade Keenan Lt Col Christopher A. Dieter Lt Col Sean McClune SMSgt James Doyle Lt Col Pete Parbel Lt Col Chad E. Marchesseault Lt Col Aaron Strode Lt Col Jeffrey S. Webb 93 ARS, Fairchild AFB, WA Lt Col Eric Smith Maj Britton Adamson Maj Michael D. Gaskins Lt Col Daniel M. Hasley Lt Col Ryan Stepp Maj Dane Arnholt MSgt Warren W. Weldon Lt Col Jeff Tourtillott Maj Jonathan S. Liard Maj Andrew Lawrence TSgt Christopher M. Ramey Maj Chad Bannwarth Maj Clayton S. Ward Maj Mark Lennon Maj Chase Bodenhausen Maj Jacob R. Yates Maj Chase Mattingly 92 ARS, Fairchild AFB, WA Maj Josh Hulett MSgt Brendan C. Balko Maj Brian Sikkema Maj Denique Asion Maj Alan Kerkaert MSgt Joseph A. Ekker Maj Joe Smith CMSgt Thomas Ireland Maj Jason Lehman MSgt Matthew G. Hunsinger Maj Travis Walters MSgt Justin Hunter Maj Aron Pena MSgt Augustine P. Marshall Maj Tyler Young 91 ARS, MacDill AFB, FL Capt Josh Perrigo TSgt Jonathan W. Rogers Capt Casey Lynn Lt Col Kelly Kimsey SMSgt Kerry Mills SSgt David L. Ballmer Capt Gabe Miranda

Fall 2019 37 MISHAP-FREE FLYING HOUR MILESTONES

Capt Dave Sternberg MSgt Ryan Blake Lt Col Kevin L. Parsons Maj Casey Eikholt CMSgt Andrea Inmon MSgt Ed Huff Maj Karan Bansal Maj Colin Hughes TSgt Ben Hynes Maj John A. Davis Maj Matthew Miller 310 AS, MacDill AFB, FL TSgt Tyler Ingino Maj Purvis C. Gaddis Maj Zachery Valdez Lt Col Daniel Lindley Maj Luke J. Reardon Capt Myles McDowell Maj Kenneth Cotter 179 AW, Mansfield, OH Maj Mitchell F. Richard Capt Nicholas Meinhart MSgt Orlando Brown Maj Matt Bulanda Maj Emma G. Steinbar TSgt Bobby Cash MSgt Andrew Gajkowski Maj Todd O’Brien Maj Taylor J. Zahm TSgt Mitchell Howells TSgt Daniel Hernandez 166 AW, New Castle, DE Capt Jonathan G. TSgt Robert McGee TSgt Evan Vanelermay Lt Col Timothy Fields Barillas Fogarty TSgt Rodriquez Nelson TSgt Justin Yow Lt Col Robert Pike Capt Lukas J. Huebener TSgt Christopher Phillips Capt Mark C. Koch 91 ARS, MacDill AFB, FL 133 ARS, Pease ANGB, NH TSgt Kate Ruehl Capt Clinton J. Muery Lt Col Jesse Caldwell Lt Col Brett Pierson SSgt Matthew Young Capt Paul L. Paskell Lt Col Christopher Collins Lt Col Nicholas Scola 180 AS, St. Joseph, MO Capt Tyler J. Stecker Lt Col Justin Dahman Maj Nicholas Alcocer Lt Col Scott Campbell Capt Austin S. Westbrook Lt Col Scott Whinnery Maj Michael Blough Lt Col Barrett Golden SSgt Christopher L. Fitzgerald Maj Jonathan Fernandez Maj Daniel Chacon Lt Col Eric Rawlings SSgt Andrew J. Keepers Maj Samuel Holbrook Maj Christa Frey Maj Greg Hafley SSgt Craig J. Vandenburg Maj Benjamin Johnson Maj Joel Webley Maj Mark Hanna 92 ARS, Fairchild AFB, WA Maj Jeffrey Osgood Capt Arren Sniderman Maj Ryan Kennedy Col Derek Salmi Maj Douglas Seeley SSgt Matthew Pongrace Maj Jared Kirk Lt Col Edmund Ballew Maj David Smith Maj Anthony Shaffer 93 ARS, Fairchild AFB, WA Lt Col Matthew Collins Capt Mike Crockett Capt John Brown Col Jeremiah S. Heathman Lt Col Justin Hendricks Capt Joseph Desanti Capt Mark Gaines Lt Col Brian C. Epperson Lt Col Ryan Petersen Capt Benjamin Hessney 1Lt David Hall Lt Col Dawn L. Hildebrand Lt Col Adam Serafin MSgt Theodore Dinwiddie CMSgt Jeremy Overby Lt Col Sean F. Howlett Lt Col Jasmine Simms SSgt Marcus Norman

TO SUBMIT MISHAP-FREE FLYING HOUR MILESTONES: Send your request to: [email protected] HQ AMC/SEE, 618.229.0927 (DSN 779) Please submit as shown in the listings above (first name, last name, sorted alphabetically within rank).

38 The Mobility Forum QUICKSTOPPERS

Rise of the Drones BY MAJ JONATHAN WEAVER, HQ AMC FLIGHT SAFETY

mall Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), also known the same rules domestically as U-2 and MQ-9 aircraft. To Sas “drones,” seem to be everywhere today. They are try to tame and utilize this ever-growing technology, Air great tools if used properly, but they can also be threats Mobility Command has established an sUAS Working to personnel, security, and aircraft if used improperly or Group that is charged with researching and enabling maliciously. Currently, anyone can purchase these items sUAS and counter-sUAS operations for Mobility Forces. and even children can operate them. Unfortunately, due to At the Air Force headquarters level, Air Force Instructions a lack of understanding by those outside the aviation field, (AFIs) are also being written to address training and the devices have been used in congested airspace without fielding of these new systems as tools to enable daily regard to potentially serious consequences. work efforts. In preparation for future implementation, individuals interested in this technology can familiarize Guidance on both the civil and military sides has changed themselves with the Federal Aviation Administration so often that it is hard to understand what the current (FAA)’s 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 107. legal requirements are to be a licensed drone operator. Additionally, those pilots with civil licenses can also take Further complicating the issues is the fact that, as a the Part 107 training on the FAA safety team’s website military force, the Air Force is held accountable to civil (www.faasafety.gov) and add a free sUAS endorsement liberty protection and domestic intelligence collection to their pilot’s license after visiting a local Flight laws and regulations. This means an sUAS is subject to Standards District Office.

SrA Madelyne Kowalczyk, 11th Security Forces Squadron counter small unmanned aircraft systems NCOIC, operates a DJI Inspire 1 on Joint Base Andrews, MD, March 1, 2019. Small unmanned aircraft systems provide JBA defenders safer avenues in maintaining and increasing base security and daily routine activities. USAF photo by A1C Michael S. Murphy

U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE: 2018-645-110/10016. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office. Fall 2019 39 Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402-0001 A DAY IN THE LIFE

SSgt Daniel Olszewski, 621st Contingency Response Support Squadron, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ, communication operator, left, and SrA Robert Bloech, 621st Contingency Response Squadron, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ, security forces member, right, prepare to drive an all-terrain vehicle during Exercise Crescent Moon Feb. 12, 2019, at North Auxiliary Airfield in North, SC. Exercise Crescent Moon is an annual training event aimed at maintaining the readiness of U.S. Transportation Command and Air Mobility Command contingency response forces. The 621st Contingency Response Wing specializes in rapidly deploying personnel to establish, expand, and sustain air mobility operations. From wartime operations to disaster relief, 621 CRW extends AMC’s ability to deploy people and equipment around the world. In the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, which caused catastrophic damage to in October 2018, various contingency response efforts similar to the ones practiced during exercise Crescent Moon were implemented to provide rapid humanitarian aid.

USAF photo by A1C Joshua Maund