Air Force photograph by Margo WrightTinker 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group members huddle around an air frame mounted nozzle sidewall structure, one of four from the F-22 Raptor’s exhaust. Members shown from left are Joanie Miller, sheet metal mechanic; David Oddi, sheet metal mechanic; Jacob O’Connor, AMNS shop supervisor; David Mullens, sheet metal mechanic; Tim Blackwell, water jet operator; Brenda Rawson, sheet metal mechanic; Steven Dorsey, sheet metal mechanic; Bronson Bolvin, water jet engineer; Roy Batts, sheet metal work leader; Justin Sneed, process engineer; Brian Thompson, program manager; and Patricia Welch, maintenance activation process team chief.
New organic workload activated at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., will bring an estimated 37,000 hours of repair work annually to mechanics in Bldg. 3001.
F-22 Raptor Airframe Mounted Nozzle Sidewall repair capabilities on liners and structures were transferred recently from the supplier, Pratt & Whitney, to the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. The 30-month transition occurred on budget and on time.
An Implementation Agreement between the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex and Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, was signed Oct. 9, said Janet Berry, Partnership Sustainment Manager from the OC-ALC Business Development office.
The Tinker Complex is now considered the official Certified Repair Center for AMNS liners and structures, said Patricia Welch, the F-22 depot activation Program Manager from the OC-ALC Business Development Office.
The Raptor’s thrust vectoring nozzles allow the aircraft to turn tightly and perform extremely high angle-of-attack maneuvers.
The F-22 is powered by dual Pratt & Whitney F119 turbofan jet engines, and P&W is a second-tier subcontractor to Boeing on the AMNS, Welch explained.
The $7 million depot activation process was a three-step project that involved assessment, activation and sustainment.
The transition started in February 2010 and concluded on Aug. 28, 2012, when Tinker was deemed to be an AMNS certified repair facility, records show. “There was a lot of preliminary work,” Welch said. “We had to identify floor space where the repairs could be made, and then we had to prepare the shop for occupancy. The technicians worked hand-in-hand with Boeing and P&W to write and review the technical manuals.
Boeing and P&W had to train our technicians, and we had to install work benches, bring in support equipment and tooling, and had to make sure and get the indirect labor folks involved, writing work control documents and establishing labor for these items.”
The AMNS mechanics from the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group went through class lectures and on-the-job training for two months, she said. They included Jacob O’Conner, Shop Supervisor; Roy Batts, Shop Work Leader; Brenda Rawson, David Mullens and Steve Dorsey, AMNS Technicians; Bradford Gee, AMNS Planner; and Floyd Creech, AMNS PMEL Coordinator.
P&W advised that the OC-ALC would need approximately 1,800 square feet of floor space to accommodate the AMNS operation, according to Brian Thompson, F119 Program Manager and AMNS Program Manager in the 76 PMXG. “We found sufficient space at the north end of Bldg. 3001,” at post R108, he related. Two hoists were installed and some specialized support equipment was acquired, he said. A stacker from Boeing was provided, which will house the piece parts for the AMNS.
In addition, “We had to prove our processes could take care of the asset and track it internally,” Archer said.
Thompson initially set a schedule and a target activation date and the Tinker team, after encountering and resolving myriad problems and challenges, missed that mark by only two days.
The AMNS maintenance shop is located near the Special Technology Coating shop in Bldg. 3001. In a partnership with the OC-ALC, P&W is leasing that shop space, where stealth coating is applied to aircraft parts such as the AMNS from the F-22. “This dual partnering agreement enables us to ‘lean’ the process” and avoid having to send a repaired AMNS from Pratt & Whitney in San Antonio, Texas, to Tinker for coating, and then back to San Antonio for completion of the repair, Thompson said.
