Duke maintainer's expertise twice saves day for combat zone aircraft

  • Published
  • By Dan Neely
  • 919th Special Operations Wing public affairs
DUKE FIELD, Fla. --  A deployed member of the 919th Special Operations Wing recently earned top-level kudos for actions that returned two disabled aircraft to airworthiness far ahead of initial estimates.

Currently overseas in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Air Force Reserve Tech. Sgt. Gary Mabe from Duke Field's 919th Maintenance Squadron had barely unpacked his bags when he was alerted in the wake of a C-17 Globemaster III incident. Then just two weeks later he similarly responded to an incident impacting an MC-130E Combat Talon I.

Just two days after reporting in at his deployed location, the NCO's veteran skills in the specialty of aero repair and reclamation were suddenly and urgently sought when the C-17 sustained serious damages from a wheels-up landing.

Less than 45 minutes after the incident, Capt. Michael Schuyler, commander of Sergeant Mabe's 1st Expeditionary Special Operations Maintenance Squadron, was called to gather a four-member team of experts to assist the host 455th Maintenance Group.

"Having deployed with Sergeant Mabe in 2007, he quickly came to mind," Captain Schuyler said. "Once on scene, we approached the CDDAR (crash damage or disabled aircraft recovery) team lead from the 445th MXG. And (since) their experience was with only fighter aircraft we quickly established that Sergeant Mabe had the most experience, so he was blended in with the 455th team."

According to Captain Schuyler, three hours after the incident the host commander instantly recognized Sergeant Mabe's expertise and began directing questions to the NCO about the best course of action to remove the aircraft from the flightline. Once a plan was completed, Sergeant Mabe returned to the flightline to begin preparing the aircraft for recovery.

"This was about six hours after Sergeant Mabe's 12-hour duty day had ended," Captain Schuyler said. "He spent numerous hours over the next four days, preparing the aircraft for a lift, replacing tires, removing debris and directing removal of the aircraft from the flightline."

The enormous lifting operation required 28 air bags, each rated at 26 tons, and a 125-ton crane alternately positioned at the nose and tail of the aircraft using lifting straps and dunnage (loose protective materials). Once the C-17 was lifted the landing gear were lowered, tires were changed and the aircraft was lowered and finally towed to a maintenance ramp for repairs.

"Sergeant Mabe's actions directly resulted in the re-opening of a combat runway days ahead of the proposed schedule, and his efforts did not go unnoticed," Captain Schuyler emphasized.

In the second incident, Sergeant Mabe's expertise was similarly called into play. The Talon aircraft, conducting a high-priority medical evacuation in near-whiteout conditions, slid out of control after landing on a snow- and mud-covered unpaved runway and struck a taxiway light, resulting in extensive damage to its nose landing gear door and antennas.

Once again, a team led by Sergeant Mabe was called upon to make expedited repairs to include removing and installing a new door. Once the door was installed and trimmed to fit minimum specifications the aircraft was declared fully airworthy.

"Sergeant Mabe worked very quickly to replace and re-rig the door," Captain Schuyler said. "The initial ETIC (estimated time to restore the aircraft's airworthiness) was 72 hours, but thanks to Sergeant Mabe and the entire 1st ESOMXS team that aircraft was finished and flew a combat mission in under 24 hours."

Shortly after both events, Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of 9th Air Force and U.S. Air Forces Central, personally presented a coin to Sergeant Mabe in a formal ceremony recognizing his combined recovery and repair efforts.

Later he was likewise honored for his response to the Talon incident by Col. J. Marcus Hicks, Combined Joint Special Operations commander, as well as for his roles as a member of the 1st ESOMXS team of the month.

"While both of these incidents highlight Sergeant Mabe's technical and leadership skills, it should not be lost that his day-to-day actions are directly related to our 99.5 percent mission effectiveness rate in a combat zone," Captain Schuyler reported. "I'm proud to have Gary and rest of the 919th (SOW) maintainers as members of our maintenance team."

Asked how he felt about receiving such senior leadership honors, Sergeant Mabe responded, "It's a good feeling to know that we're here to work as a team, because everyone on the C-17 and Talon worked as a unit. All of these events were a total team effort, and I wouldn't change anything. Both fix processes went smoothly."

For Sergeant Mabe, the opportunities to apply his knowledge, skills and leadership in a combat environment showed his extensive training pay major dividends.

"We train to get prepared for real world events," he said, "and when things like this happen it becomes second nature to jump on and just get it done. People depend on you to do your job."