QUICKSTOPPERS: Maintainers: Helping Keep Us Safe on the Ground and In-Flight

As a pilot, I certainly knew how to fly an airplane. However, I never really understood what went on behind the scenes—preparing the aircraft for flight. We cannot do it without our maintainers. Maintenance is an integral part of military operations, especially with regard to our aircraft—not only in Air Mobility Command (AMC) but also in the Air Force as a whole. Safety for maintainers must be a part of our safety program, but where does it exist? It is certainly present in the maintenance units that do a great job at supporting their folks, but how about outside the unit, at the wing or major command levels?

For a long time we have provided aircrew members with timely mishap information, but we have given short shrift to maintainers. Why is that? At our level in AMC Safety, we realize the importance of keeping maintainers in the loop on mishap prevention information since a tragic C-17 mishap occurred in 2004, in which a maintainer was fatally injured in a spoiler incident. At that time, we were severely lacking a maintenance presence in the AMC Flight Safety office. That incident is a large part of the reason AMC Safety hired a retired Flight Safety Noncommissioned Officer (FSNCO) who was a crew chief for much of his career. We realized we needed a maintainer’s presence where we had none before. Enter Eulalio Maynes, known by many as Lalo. He has beaten the drum for maintainers for the past twenty years.

Lalo has tirelessly advocated for maintenance in many ways, including hosting FSNCO telecons, penning quarterly maintenance newsletters, meticulously reviewing mishap investigation reports, and prompting the Air Force Safety Center to make changes in policy and publications. He has faced an uphill battle at times, but as he leaves us for the next chapter of his life, we thank him for his efforts that indirectly led to the recent Air Force Safety directive he wrote about on page 8 of this Mobility Forum issue. Others may take credit for the directive, but I have worked with Lalo for the past twenty years and have witnessed his fight to be an advocate for the inclusion of aircraft maintenance in our flight safety programs. I believe the Air Force has seen it, too. Although it may have been challenging to implement, this effort will pay off in the long run as we continue to fold the maintenance community into the flight safety field. For all this, we thank you, Lalo, for your hard work and passion for maintenance safety. You have had a job and career worth celebrating! Maintain safety, my friend!