PMEL techs have to sweat small stuff Published Nov. 3, 2006 By Senior Airman Austin M. May 47th FTW Public Affairs LAUGHLIN AFB, TEXAS -- When it comes to testing equipment, if something takes a measurement, it most likely has to be calibrated at one time or another itself. And if it takes a measurement on Laughlin, it has to be calibrated by the precision measurement equipment laboratory. The PMEL, in the words of Senior Airman Frederick Keese, is a group of people who work together to ensure all test equipment on base is working properly and meets all accuracies provided by the manufacturer. Airman Keese is a PMEL journeyman who has been in the career field for five and a half years, four and a half of which have been at Laughlin. Airman Keese said he enjoys getting to learn about other jobs in maintenance through his job with the PMEL. "I go on-site to do certain calibrations, and then see how the equipment I calibrate effects those jobs and the aircraft they support," he said. Basically, the Airmen in the PMEL, who are the only active-duty maintenance workers in the 47th Flying Training Wing Maintenance Directorate, are responsible for certifying and verifying any piece of equipment, with very few exceptions, which takes a measurement. When calibrating equipment, the lab has very strict standards to which they must adhere. The calibration equipment the technicians use must be four times more accurate than the actual equipment they are adjusting. For example, if a piece of equipment needs to measure something to the nearest inch, the PMEL equipment used to calibrate it must be accurate to the nearest quarter-inch. Precision and attention to detail are the main themes in the PMEL, said Airman Keese. For Airman 1st Class Justin Roberts, who loves working with electronics, working in the PMEL seemed like the ideal job in the Air Force for him. "For me personally, the coolest things I get to do is work with the jet engine test cell," he said. "It's where they hook up the engines before they put them into the planes. That and working with very high voltage, when you can smell the ozone coming out of the unit." Airman Roberts said another interesting thing about the PMEL is the unique, highly controlled work environment. The lab must be kept between 67 and 79 degrees, with between 20 to 50 percent humidity, or the PMEL technicians cannot do their jobs. This restricts where PMEL technicians can deploy. "Qatar is the only deployed location we can go for PMEL. Our laboratory over there still has to meet our environmental specifications," Airman Keese said. "It's a lot better than working outside in 120-degree weather. Working with different technicians from different bases is cool because you get to see how they operate," he said. "One of the key (and often overlooked) concepts of PMEL is traceability," said Master Sgt. Eddie Shackleford, Test Measurement Diagnostic Equipment flight chief. "Every measurement must have an unbroken chain of inter-comparisons traceable to National or International standards."