LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Danny Hernandez, a 47th Maintenance Directorate aircraft mechanic, was chosen by wing leadership to be the “XLer of the Week”, for the week of July 22, 2019, at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
The “XLer of the Week” award, presented by Col. Lee Gentile, the 47th Flying Training Wing commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Robert Zackery III, the 47 FTW command chief master sergeant, is given to those who consistently make outstanding contributions to their unit and the Laughlin mission.
During a routine phase inspection for a sticking flight control stick on the T-1A Jayhawk, Hernandez discovered a malfunction in the mechanism controlling the roll of the aircraft.
“During the functional check flights the pilots were reporting a popping in the control column,” said Evelyn Jones, 47th Maintenance Directorate T-1 maintenance superintendent Hernandez’s supervisor. “The mechanism is like a bicycle chain and the links were sticking, which was causing the noise.”
After isolating the issue for the sticking mechanism, he was notified that no replacements were readily available and no deliveries were forecast, so he took it upon himself to obtain the depot level specifications and completely overhauled four control columns and performed the repairs on the specified aircraft.
“I tell everyone Laughlin is different than everywhere else,” Jones said. “Our maintainers are going above and beyond to make sure these aircraft fly.”
Hernandez also reported his findings to the contractor of the common failure mode, enabling them to improve quality control on their replacement parts.
This task couldn’t have been done alone, Hernandez said. His team was instrumental in beginning to solve this issue.
Thanks to the hard work of Hernandez and his team of T-1 maintainers in identifying and alleviating the flight control issue, Hernandez earned this week’s “XLer of the Week.”