Services take action to combat aviation wiring troubles

Published Jan. 18, 2008
Joint Services Wiring Action Group

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- More than 150 maintenance professionals from around the world rolled up their sleeves to try and help solve common aircraft wiring issues at the November Joint Service Wiring Action Group (JSWAG) meeting in Virginia Beach, Va.
   "This JSWAG was very well represented by uniformed personnel," said Oliviu Muja, JSWAG coordinator supporting the Naval Air Systems Command Propulsion and Power Wiring Systems Branch. "It was a very positive, very productive exchange of information for everything that is wiring and fiber optics related. This is where we wanted to get to -- where the JSWAG is fruitful and productive."
   The JSWAG maintainers' meeting was established and chartered by the Navy and the Air Force to collectively provide advancement in safety, reliability, maintainability and readiness of systems.
   For the young maintainer, the action group meeting reinforces training and provides insight into how problems are raised, researched and resolved by all four services. It also highlights the importance of the "one team" mentality inherent within the JSWAG community. For the seasoned maintainer, it is an opportunity to pass on lessons learned, tricks of the trade as well as socialize concerns and resolutions in a joint context. JSWAG is now working in concert with the Joint Fiber Optic Working Group.
   "Fleet maintainers identified connector cleaning as the key maintenance issue with fiber optics," said Mike Hackert, NAVAIR electro optic networking engineer and chair of the JFOWG. "System and development engineers agreed to minimize the maintenance cost through process, procedural, and hardware changes."
   The JSWAG/JFOWG meeting is about sharing knowledge, Muja said, but it is also about solving problems.
"The JSWAG allows me to forward concerns from maintainers in the Fleet to this group, who can take action to improve what Fleet personnel are using to maintain our aircraft," said AEC James Esslinger, from the Navy Safety Center. "This is a good forum for maintenance professionals in the Wings to attend so they can hear these lessons learned that are briefed at JSWAG and take them back to their commands."
   One important success for the JFOWG members was the development of an action plan for the Air Force to implement malfunction codes into their maintenance collection system that will enable all services to pool from a common repository to better understand key fiber optic maintenance issues.
   Fiber optic connector cleaning was identified as the hottest topic for fiber optic maintenance professionals around the joint services.
   Members of the six JSWAG committees - executive, training, design and installation, quality components, fiber optics and maintenance - meet every fall to hear gripes and collect action chits [or action items] first hand from maintenance professionals from all the services and allied forces. Each spring JSWAG committee members meet to take action on the chits by assigning them to be researched, worked and completed. The spring JSWAG has morphed into an invitation only meeting, allowing members to concentrate on resolving action chits without the distraction of other events.
   "Being a joint service environment, the JSWAG's going to give us more gas to solve common problems," said Master Sgt. George Brumbalow, Marine Aircraft Group 31 from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C. "Each service is encountering the same problems, and now we are going to be working together on joint solutions instead of trying to come up with individual solutions which makes it more cost effective for us and is going to speed up the process for things we really need out there in the Fleet."
   One of the bigger issues plaguing all services' aircraft wiring is chafing, according to the Navy Safety Center. Brian Vetter, of the NAVAIR Propulsion and Power Department's Wiring Systems Branch, briefed the JSWAG about a new wire insulation that the Small Business Innovation Research group at NAVAIR is helping develop.
   This new insulation is said to be thicker and harder to chafe, according to Vetter. Along with the new insulation, there is also a need to develop a new wire stripper that will make it easier for the maintenance professionals to do their jobs amongst the myriad of different wire gauges and insulation types. This wire stripper is being designed with fewer replaceable cutting heads so that it basically is one size fits all.
   Corrosion of connectors happens more often in the Navy and Coast Guard due to exposure to the sea environment, but nevertheless is a joint issue with common solutions. JSWAG took it for action and will work to reduce its effects, Muja said.
   In addition to hearing and solving wiring-related maintenance issues, JSWAG attendees nominated one person for the Lu Roberts Award. The award is presented to the person who exhibits outstanding contributions and support to the improvement of aerospace wiring and interconnect systems. Lu Roberts was one of the first coordinators of the NAVWAG and was instrumental in getting wiring systems recognized and equally treated as integral parts of aircraft airworthiness and maintenance. This year, the JSWAG members overwhelmingly chose Mr. Jerome Collins, formerly the NAVAIR Wiring Systems Branch Head, as the recipient of the prestigious award.
   The upcoming JSWAG in the spring is by invitation only and will be held at NAS Patuxent River, Md., with the next general session later this fall in Virginia Beach, Va. Visit www.jswag.com for additional details, action chit updates and specifics on the ongoing efforts.