Avionics experts keep F-16s in the skies

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt, Phillip Butterfield
  • 56 Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  When an aircraft comes back from a mission with a broken avionics system, a team of specialists remove and replace the suspect part and get the plane in the air again. 

But, where does the part go to get fixed? That job falls on the 56th Component Maintenance Squadron's Avionics Intermediate Systems back shop. 

AIS is charged with receiving and diagnosing a myriad of parts that come in from the flightline. 

"We work on a variety of parts," said Senior Airman Roger Duran, 56th CMS AIS shop team member. "More notably the heads up display, throttle grip, side stick, radios, fire control radar, flight control computers and engine computers, to name a few." 

AIS uses sophisticated computer test stations to analyze and repair high tech aircraft equipment. 

"Avionics back shop is a very technical career field," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Wuntke, 56th CMS avionics team leader. "We use three avionics test stations that simulate the signals and the stimulus an F-16 receives on the flightline. Our test station tricks the part into thinking it's still on the aircraft so we can effectively run diagnostics and try to duplicate the problem and fix it." 

If AIS can't fix a part, it's categorized as "not repairable this station" and is shipped to the depot facility for in-depth maintenance at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Sergeant Wuntke said. 

With the use of this sophisticated equipment and a team of professionals AIS has produced astounding numbers not to be ignored. 

"AIS's mission here is to screen and repair line replaceable units," said Tech. Sgt. Donovan King, 56th CMS AIS NCO-in-charge. "In a typical month we will screen 100 to 150 LRUs and generate a cost savings of $1,000,000. As a shop we epitomize a strong team concept from the newest Airman walking in the front door to our strong senior NCO leadership team, everyone is aware of what the wing's goals are and we execute them well." 

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of four articles featuring maintenance back shops.