MASTERS OF THE GLOBEMASTER - ACCEPTANCE CREW ENSURES FLIGHT SAFETY FOR AIR FORCE

  • Published
  • By Cassandra Locke
  • Defense Contract Management Agency Public Affairs
PRINCE GEORGE, Va. (AFNS) --  Whenever Boeing officials roll a brand new C-17 Globemaster III off the plant in Long Beach, Calif., Tech. Sgt. Sidney De Leon and his team have to ensure it's ready for the Air Force to fly it.

De Leon is one of the Defense Contract Management Agency C-17 acceptance crew members.

"The Air Force expects to receive a perfect product, and it is up to us to identify and correct any problems before we accept the aircraft for delivery to the C-17 fleet," said De Leon, a loadmaster.

The idea is for the crew members to recognize those troubles at the plant, fix it and then deliver it to Air Force officials.

"We inspect every single switch, button, system," De Leon said. "Once all that is done, we do engine runs to make sure the engines are up to par."

Once they complete all the ground checks, they taxi to the runway to do a reject takeoff to ensure the brakes work. After that, they take off for the very first time.

"Most people would be amazed at the problems a single loose screw can cause," De Leon said. "Our job is to fly these airplanes with the understanding that there may be problems encountered while we're airborne."

The flight crew usually flies about five hours performing various critical aircraft systems checks. Some of those include shutting down engines in-flight, dropping the landing gear manually, validating the stall warning system, and whatever else needs to be done to ensure the aircraft is safe. Once the airplane passes all the inspections, the pilot and the loadmaster sign a book certifying the airplane is ready to be flown by the Air Force and Boeing C-17 customers.

"This position gives me another perspective about how the Air Force and the civilian sector are tied together," De Leon said. "It takes a team effort to produce and verify the capabilities of the C-17. Once we deliver a new jet, (it is) immediately being used to transport military troops and cargo worldwide, including wounded Soldiers out of hostile locations to medical facilities at a moment's notice."

So De Leon takes his job seriously when performing such tasks as evaluating the contractor's flight training and ground safety programs.

"Attention to detail is key in this business," he said. "The lives of many people are at stake if we don't do our job well."