Aircraft parts store supplies maintainers

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stephenie Wade
  • 455th Air Exepiditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Airmen on the flight hear an alert on the radio, there is an aircraft coming in with an inflight emergency, a part is broken on a C-130 Hercules aircraft; maintainers scurry to the flight line but when they check their supply kit the parts they need are not present.

That's when maintainers rely on members of the 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron aircraft parts store and aircraft flight services centers to get them the parts they need at Bagram Airfield, one of the busiest runways in Afghanistan.

"My mission here is to supply C-130 aircraft maintainers with parts 24/7," said Tech. Sgt. Lakesha Carter, 455th ELRS NCO in charge, C-130, aircraft parts store, deployed from Moody Air Force, Ga. "We have everything they need from tires, to props to nuts and bolt it's all in our warehouse."

The supply store receives shipments at least four times a day. Recently the C-130 parts store moved to a larger facility to accommodate the large amount of supplies they maintain accountably of. Each part is stored on a shelf in its original box for protection and organization reasons.

"If we need to replace a broken part and we do not have the part in our backup supplies kit, we check with the aircraft supply parts store to see if they have the part," said Staff Sgt. Christopher Visconti, 455 EAMXU C-130 aerospace repair and reclamation craftsman deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark and native of Brooklyn."We know how to order supplies but we are not the experts, which is why we have an Expeditionary Logistics Readiness supply member assigned to our unit."

If the supply store does not have the part then the C-130 aircraft maintainers research the part number and the national stock number to give to Staff Sgt. Latoya Jenkins, their ELRS supply liaison for the C-130 EAMU.

"I use the information provided by the maintainers to contact other bases to see if they have the parts," said Jenkins, deployed from Little Rock AFB and native of Rayville, La. "If they have it, then I order it through supply, have it shipped here and I go pick it up from the parts store when it arrives."

Once the part has arrived Jenkins is notified by the flight services center.

"I work in the flight services center issuing parts to ELRS supply liaisons," said Staff Sgt. Sabrina Pritchett, 455 ELRS C-130 aircraft flight services center member. "Each parts stock number is located on the shipment box. When the liaison orders a part, I go to the storage area and find it using its number. "I also update received parts in the system and mail parts to get fixed."

The part is also issued and must be returned in the original box for continuity reasons and to save the Air Force money. According to Pritchett, when a part breaks it receives a code. For example if a part breaks here and it cannot be fixed in theater, but it is repairable, it is coded XV, which means the part will go to a depot to be fixed in the states.

"The box has all the parts information on it, information that is already in the system," said Pritchett, also deployed from Moody AFB and native of Jackson, Ala. "When the part is returned in its original box, it makes it easier to ship."

Although the C-130 parts store primarily provides parts for the C-130 aircraft they facilitate parts for A-10 and HH-60 aircraft too. Some of the parts are interchangeable and can be used on more than one aircraft.

"Our job is important because we help put the C-130's and other aircraft here in the air and without a continuous supply of parts, the aircraft cannot fly their mission," said Carter, native of Rocky Mount, N.C. "When the aircraft land and they need a part, the first place their going to stop is right here and we facilitate that process. We can get the part to them in a moment's time."

Carter said her favorite part of about her job here is that she can see her contribution to the mission, from start to finish.

"I can interact with the customer and I can see the outcome. When I hear the aircraft in the air, that's when I say to myself, 'that's why I am here, to help the fight.'"