New F101 engine workload arrives at Tinker

Published Feb. 29, 2008
By Brandice J. Armstrong
72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- A jet engine is making history.
   An F101 engine is the first of a new workload to arrive at Tinker for intermediate-level maintenance repair. The workload is a Repair Enterprise for the 21st Century Lean logistics initiative and transformation process effort to consolidate intermediate maintenance facilities.
   "Doing F101 engine work at Tinker is part of securing the right workload, my No. 1 strategic goal," said Maj. Gen. Loren Reno, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center commander. "The F101 workload is important to Tinker because it is important to the Air Force.
   "This intermediate maintenance is essential for the engine's health, and we certainly know how to do jet engine maintenance."
   The General Electric F101's, an augmented turbofan engine, are the muscle behind the B-1 Lancer.
   Prior to the RE21 initiative, there were three intermediate maintenance facilities: McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.; Ellsworth AFB, S.D.; and Dyess AFB, Texas. Since the initiative began, the McConnell AFB stood down their jet engine intermediate maintenance shop and Ellsworth AFB is only doing limited uninstalled maintenance. Ellsworth AFB will stop all F101 engine work at the end of fiscal year 2008, further consolidating the workload at Tinker, said Capt. Marty Hagg, 545th PMXS deputy director.
   The engine's arrival signifies the beginning of Tinker's operational capability for intermediate maintenance on the F101 engine," the captain said.
   The role of Tinker's intermediate maintenance facility is to fix any unscheduled damage.
   The engine arrived Feb. 1 with two noted discrepancies - No. 1 fan blade damage and high-pressure turbine nozzle crack. Since repair work started Feb. 4, mechanics found six additional issues.
   "It's kind of like Christmas, you never know what you'll get until you open it," said Chad Curl, the 545th Propulsion Maintenance Squadron RE21 F101 workload supervisor.
Captain Hagg agreed.
   "A lot of times jet engines are like that," he said. "They come in for one thing and in the repair process you find more and more (work)."
   Tinker's RE21 F101 mechanics, which are made up of 11 military and civilians, have 20 days to make the repairs before the engine has to be returned.
   Of all possible repairs on the F101, Mr. Curl said the RE21 shop will complete 85 to 90 percent in the shop.
   "We can tear these engines all the way to the floor and rebuild them," Mr. Curl said. "The only components we have to send out are depot repair rotors and things like that.
   "We're only fixing what's broke and doing smart, opportunistic (reliability centered maintenance), then giving it back to the warfighter as soon as possible," Mr. Curl said. "We try to remove and replace the least number of parts as we can."
   The engine is currently the only one in the repair shop, and there are about nine engines waiting for repair, but the shop is not fully operational. The shop will be ready in late March after construction of the 35,000-square-foot shop in Bldg. 3705 is complete.
   Once the F101 shop reaches full operational capability, it will have the capacity to handle up to 15 engines per month.