Oct. 11, 2013
Vol. 2 Issue 120
DAILY DIGEST
SAILORS MAINTAIN AND REPAIR AVIATION SUPPORT EQUIPMENT
T
he flight deck is abuzz with the rumble of flight operations. From vulture’s row, it looks like a bag of M&Ms was spilled as Sailors in blue, red, yellow and brown shirts all work quickly, spread out across the bow of the ship. The loud buzzing of jet engines sends vibrations across the deck. A group of yellow shirts hook a jet up to a tow bar as a blue shirt drives past in a tow tractor, F/A-18C Hornet in tow. Everything is running smoothly. Suddenly, though, the tow tractor stops right in the middle of the runway. The motor has stalled, and try as he might, the driver simply cannot get the tractor to start up again. Quickly, a call is made on the Radio. It’s Aviation Sup-
Story and photos by MCSN Siobhana R. McEwen
port Equipment Technician (AS) 2nd Class John Ringer who answers. When a piece of support equipment on the flight deck goes down, Ringer is usually the first person called to fix the problem. Ringer is a member of the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department’s (AIMD) Support Equipment (IM-4) Division: he is a Flight Deck Troubleshooter. “Our job is to maintain and repair all support equipment on the flight deck,” said Aviation Support Equipment Technician 2nd Class Jon Blevins, who also works as a flight deck troubleshooter. “We work on P-25 firefighting trucks, tow tractors and the crash crane.” Continued on page 3