Maintainers take home top prize in military category at skills competition

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kirsten Wicker
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  McChord Field Airmen took first place in the Aviation Maintenance Technology Society's third annual Maintenance Skills Competition March 16-18 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Air Mobility Command teams from McChord Field, Dyess Air Force Base, Abilene, Texas and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Trenton, N.J., as well as two U.S. Navy teams and a U.S. Coast Guard team, represented the military category at the competition.

Each event was graded based on completion time, with teams receiving a time penalty for incorrect troubleshooting or safety violations. The team with the shortest overall time was named the winner in each of the four competition categories: military, aviation college, general aviation and commercial.
This year, Team McChord took first place in the military aviation category and fifth place overall out of 25 teams. The U.S. Navy Team Blue and Team Gold placed second in the military category.

"We are honored and proud to bring the first place for Military Aviation Team back to McChord Field," said Sergeant Wisniewski. "We are equally proud to be the only Air Force team to place."

The other members of McChord Field's team are Staff Sergeants Anthony Nowak, 62nd MXS, and Paul Weeks, 62nd AMXS and Technical Sergeants Seanjon Judkins and Richard Dell, 62nd AMXS. Civilian team members include Mr. Kevin Davis, 62nd MXS and Mr. John Broome, 446th AMXS.

"Our civilian team members paid numerous dividends to the overall success of the team," Sergeant Wisniewski said. "The experience they brought to the team was unmatched by any other military team and definitely aided in bringing home first place honors."

The skills competition consists of 12 separate events testing teams of licensed aircraft maintenance technicians' ability to accomplish various tasks commonly found in the civilian aircraft maintenance profession. These include a 40-minute engine event in which teams simultaneously work a hydraulic pump and tachometer generator; an advanced composite material damage event where teams use a tap inspection method to find damage not visible from the surface; and an electrical troubleshooting event in which the teams have to find the best fix for various fault codes while spending minimal money on parts.

"This was a great opportunity to showcase our skills and knowledge against other military, civilian and international aircraft maintainers," said Master Sgt. Michael Wisniewski, 62nd Maintenance Squadron, McChord's team chief.

This year, the U.S. Air Force sponsored the rigid line troubleshooting event, designed and built by McChord Field Airmen. The event station tested each technician's ability to troubleshoot defects to rigid tubing lines and determine which two lines had leaks. Participants were given 20 minutes to complete the event and it was judged by an Air Force member.

"We were proud to design, sponsor and judge an event for this year's competition," Sergeant Wisniewski said. "It was very well received and numerous accolades came from the competitors and the AMT Society directors."

We hope to continue designing, sponsoring and judging events for future skills competition, he added.

Though the events were geared toward the civilian sector of aircraft maintenance, the skills required were very similar to those used by military maintainers. Safety plays a large role in the overall scoring of each event as all teams were required to follow safety guidelines enforced in both military and civilian sectors, such as safety goggle use.

In civilian aircraft maintenance, technicians have an "airframe and power plant" license and are expected to perform in all areas of aircraft maintenance. Since the competition was designed to test the skills of an A&P licensed mechanic, military teams faced the additional challenge of selecting the right mix of career fields to best cover all the events, some of which occur simultaneously.

Airmen from the 62nd MXS and the 62nd and 446th Aircraft Maintenance Squadrons represented several different work centers: aircraft structural maintenance, electro-environmental, hydraulics and aero-repair. These flights were chosen for the competition due to the variety and strength of their skills.