KEFLAVIK AIR BASE, Iceland -- With 14 F-15C/D Eagles on the Keflavik Air Base flightline, proper aircraft maintenance is vital to securing the sovereign skies over Iceland and critical flying training.
More than 150 maintainers, assigned to the 48th Maintenance Group and deployed from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, keep four of these jets ready to launch at all times, facilitating the peacetime preparedness needs and bolstering the security and defense of Iceland through NATO’s Icelandic Air Security mission.
“The expectation for my Airmen never changes,” said the IAS deployment maintenance officer-in-charge assigned to the 748th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. “It’s to put up safe and reliable aircraft every day. Our job is a very important one. The quality of the maintenance we do directly effects the quality of the aircraft and the safety of the pilot in the seat.”
After clearing the initial hurdle of deploying essential personnel and equipment from their home station, 748th AMXS, 48th Component Maintenance Squadron and 48th Equipment Maintenance Squadron Airmen have now settled into a rhythm. There are still day-to-day challenges associated with working in an unfamiliar location, but the Airmen persevere through their professionalism and expertise.
“Being in a different environment causes unexpected things to go wrong, especially when employing systems we don’t usually use normally at home,” said an aerospace propulsion craftsman assigned to the 748th AMXS. “You’re going to have some kinks that need to be worked out, but we have a bunch of professionals that do their job extremely well. It’s no nonsense out here. It’s incredibly important, and we do not take it lightly.”
With the large amount of the F-15s on the line, the maintenance priority is the four IAS mission-essential jets designated for the alert scramble. These aircraft are required to be ready to take off and patrol the airspace at all times.
When the alarm sounds the on-call pilots must be in the air within minutes, which is why reliable preventative maintenance and open dialog between pilots and maintainers are vital to mission success.
“It’s important to work with the crew chief beforehand to make sure he or she is ready for the quickest startup that we can possibly preform and to get the jet rolling within two minutes of pulling the start handle,” said a pilot from the 493rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.
Maintaining the remaining 10 aircraft is important as well, ensuring pilots assigned to the 493rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron are able to continue their necessary training and flight currencies.
With only about a week left in the Icelandic Air Surveillance mission, the push for excellence on the line is high.
“I can’t say enough about these troops out here,” said the pilot. “These guys are working long and hard making sure these jet are ready to fly at a moment’s notice. I just landed, but by the time we finished this conversation, this jet will be ready to take off again if need be.
“That’s an invaluable capability, and the U.S. Air Force would be nowhere without our maintainers.”