Sabers up tempo with 14 turn 12s

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Staci Miller, 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

The skies over Spangdahlem Air Base were filled with a few extra jets the past few weeks as F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 480th Fighter Squadron increased their flying tempo.

From April 24 to May 5, the 480th FS and 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron supported 26 sorties a day, 14 in the morning and 12 in the afternoon. This flying tempo is referred to as a, “14 turn 12,” and is a 16 percent increase over normal operations. During normal operations, it’s standard to launch a 12 turn 10, or 4 fewer sorties per day. Preparing and launching 14 aircraft in one go is referred to as a “14 front.”

“I have never seen two straight weeks of 14 fronts out of a single squadron in my entire 16 year career,” said Lt. Col. Timothy Murphy, 480th FS commander. “We proved that we could not only schedule all of those extra sorties, but also launch them consistently day after day. It was very impressive to see from both an operational and maintenance perspective.”

 

Launching 4 additional sorties per day may not seem like a huge increase, but the additional requirement on the pilots and maintenance units over time is substantial.

 

“No one is doing what we’re doing here,” said Capt. Jessica Watts, 480th Aircraft Maintenance Unit officer in-charge. “It may not seem like a big change when you look at it one day at a time, but over the course of two weeks, it really adds up.”

According to Watts, the increase in tempo was prompted by discussions with higher headquarters about options for addressing increased pilot manning in coming years, while a change in plans made a trial-run possible.

“There has been a lot of attention to the possibility that a unit with 24 primary aircraft assigned, like ours, should be able to maintain a 14 turn 12 throughout the entire year,” Watts said. “We had a month-long TDY get cancelled so we decided to use this opportunity to test it out and see if there’s a possibility to do this next year.”

An increase of jets in the air doesn’t just require more pilots, but also more manning from every section connected to maintaining the aircraft.

“You have petroleum, oil and lubricants Airmen, extra crew chiefs from the phase section, plus all of the back shops who come out here and supply bodies for us to be able to turn, recover, get the chalks in, and refuel these jets,” said Staff Sgt. Robert Gere, 52nd AMXS dedicated crew chief. “There are so many moving parts, but the way we’ve been working together out here is just magic. Everyone is doing a really good job.”

 

The 480th FS flew Basic Fighter Maneuver (dogfighting) missions over the past two weeks. BFM involves a low level of mission planning and requires the jets fly with as few attachments as possible. This helped limit the additional requirements on the pilots and the maintainers.

“I think if we were flying a different mission, it would have been more difficult to maintain,” Gere said. “BFM requires slick jets, so there’s not as much for us to maintain and less demand on the system. We didn’t have many issues, so we know the jets are doing what they’re supposed to do. We know our inspections are thorough, and our maintenance is thorough.”

 

The work it took to make this increase in tempo a success was a huge maintenance accomplishment and highlights the strong partnership between the pilots and the maintenance units.

 

“Prepping and launching that many aircraft over a two-week stretch is an incredible feat,” Murphy said.  “Our ability to fill those extra cockpits has a small impact compared to generating those extra jets and sorties.  It underscores the amazing relationship we have here between operations and maintenance.”

 

While the past two-weeks were a huge success, there’s still no guarantee that 14 turn 12s are going to become the new standard.

 

“We are extremely proud of everything the men and women of the 480th AMU were able to accomplish but we also understand there are external factors which enabled the overall team to be successful,” Watts said “Due to the TDY getting cancelled, we were in a position to stop phase and utilize their manning to augment us on the line. A manning assist from the 52nd Maintenance Squadron combined with the configuration we were flying in are key factors that can’t be looked at independently. With everything we know right now, I wouldn’t want to build a flying hour program for the next year based on this one trial.”

 

While most began the trial with some uncertainty, the end result is something of which everyone can be proud.

 

“Everyone went in a little apprehensive, we knew it was going to put a huge demand on our pilots and our maintenance Airmen,” Watts said. “They completely rocked it. I think that’s what maintenance professionals do; they make the job look easy.”