47th Maintenance Directorate

 

The 47th Flying Training Wing Maintenance Directorate is responsible for furnishing quality aircraft, support and services to its customers. It's assigned resources of aircraft, support equipment, and facilities are worth more than $1.3 billion. The Directorate's seven divisions are a mix of organizational and intermediate-level aircraft maintenance supporting the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training mission at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. The mission is accomplished with 631 civilians, six military, and 208 contractors utilizing 60 facilities.

Sortie generation is high-volume, over 51,000 sorties a year, and accounts for one of the largest flying training commitment in Air Education and Training Command, over 80,000 flying hours per year. The Directorate maintains the second largest active air fleet in the Air Force with 48 T-1A Jayhawks, 103 T-6A Texan IIs and 64 T-38C Talons.  It also monitors several contractor-managed activities, one of which is a depot-equivalent repair facility serving four AETC wings, and furnishes base-level local manufacture and munitions storage accountability.

Divisions:

T-1 Aircraft Maintenance Division: The T-1A Aircraft Maintenance Division conducts launch, recovery, servicing and inspections for 48 aircraft which support Phase II of the 47 FTW SUPT mission. It also supports humanitarian airlift.

T-6 Aircraft Maintenance Division: The T-6 Aircraft Maintenance Division conducts launch, recovery, servicing and inspections for 103 T-6 aircraft used to support Phase I of 47 FTW SUPT.

T-38 Aircraft Maintenance Division: The T-38 Aircraft Maintenance Division conducts launch, recovery, servicing and inspections for 65 assigned aircraft used to support Phase II of 47 FTW SUPT. It is also the base focal point for crash recovery services at Laughlin AFB and other locations assigned by Headquarters AETC.

Component Maintenance Division: Component Maintenance Division addresses an array of intermediate-level maintenance for aircraft maintenance and the base-level supply system. It inspects, troubleshoots and repairs parts for both aircraft and supply shelves which stock aircraft spare parts. It serves as a centralized management point for services using specialized equipment for nondestructive inspections, corrosion control, fuels systems, aircraft batteries, egress and survival systems, powered and non-powered aerospace ground equipment, hydraulics systems and components, and avionics systems and components. Base-level services include local manufacture and repair in fabric, metal, plastics, leather, and composite materials, and a munitions accountability and storage activity.

Maintenance Operations Division: Maintenance Operations Division manages a diverse array of services which keep maintenance production well planned and integrated with sortie production defined by the 47 FTW pilot training syllabus. It coordinates the logistical inventory and movement of an estimated 8,000 repair cycle assets through the flight line, component maintenance, and the base-level supply system. It maintains and monitors the Directorate's portion of Laughlin AFB's computerized hardware and software, local area network, data automation infrastructure, and the Integrated Maintenance Data System.  The Division also provides management of budget; personnel concerns; plans and programs; administrative support for records management, publications, and forms; facility management; personnel security; and information security.

Quality Assurance Division: The Quality Assurance Division keeps the Director of Maintenance informed of the daily condition of assigned aircraft, related support equipment and personnel proficiencies. It provides central management for functional check flights, deficiency analysis, environmental protection, maintenance production analysis, safety and technical order distribution. It also manages an aggressive training program intended to meet most aircraft maintenance needs internally and arranges for training which cannot be done in-house. Its activities affect everyone assigned to the Directorate, 504 pieces of related support equipment, and 60 facilities.

Contract Performance Management Division: The Contract Performance Management Division monitors six key contractor-managed activities at Laughlin AFB. These are the Engine Regional Repair Center, the T-1A Contractor Operated and Maintained Base Supply, T-6A COMBS, T-38C Avionics Upgrade Program COMBS, Transient Aircraft Maintenance and a T-6 Field Service Representative. Altogether, the contracts are worth an estimated $223 million and furnish services to the 47th FTW and four other AETC wings.

 

(Current as of June 2019)