How do you fix a warplane remotely? Air Force engineers figured it out from home
A team of Air Force engineers based in Utah completed what might have been one of the strangest missions in their career so far: fix a warplane from their bedrooms.
It’s one of the latest tests the coronavirus pandemic has thrown at the nation as most of the country remains locked indoors to help stop the spread of the disease.
“The team tested the teleworking capabilities during the previous weeks in anticipation of such an event,” Pamela Lee, A-10 Division chief at Hill Air Force Base, said in a statement. “Basically, the team accomplished the mission from their bedrooms, basements, and home offices while flattening the virus curve by working from home.”
While in a “deployed location,” an A-10 Warthog was damaged when a bullet flew right into the underbelly of the plane, the statement said.
Immediately after, the plane’s “maintainer” sent photos to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center team from the A-10 Division at Hill AFB, an operation that was “managed by e-mail, file sharing over the Global VPN and telephone with none of the team members actually meeting face-to-face.”
Thousands of miles away, the team devised a repair solution and advised the maintainer on how to complete the job.
“After cutting a 3-inch hole in the underbelly, a crack in the structure with three sheared fasteners was found, along with the bullet lodged in the fuel cell cavity floor crack,” the statement read.
Within 24 hours, the aircraft was released back into the unit after receiving confirmation of its “airworthiness,” the statement said. Final repairs will continue when the plane returns to its U.S. base.
“I’m proud to know our team helped keep this vital aircraft in the air, performing its close air support mission that is so important to our forces on the ground,” Lee said.
