'Abort Court' rules over Moody aircraft maintainers

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  The 723rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron recently began taking broken jets "to court" as a way to discover the root cause of mission-scrubbing system failures. 

The "abort court" which began in January, examines all lost sorties from the previous month and analyzes their causes by looking at the "big picture," said Lt. Col. William Taylor, 71st Rescue Squadron commander. 

"The questions we ask are centered around whether each aircraft abort was justifiable or preventable," said Colonel Taylor. "Should a preflight check have caught it? Was it an item that should have been inspected sooner? Was it truly a required item the crew needed or was the mission possible without the system?" 

For 723rd AMXS leadership, the monthly meetings are a way to provide every tool necessary, said Lt. Col. Donald Russell, 723rd AMXS commander. 

"To me as a commander, aborts are a leading indicator of both aircraft reliability and the quality of maintenance performed," he said. "We took a couple of different analytic approaches, one of which was this abort court. What is different about this forum is we are getting maintenance and operations leadership together in one room to talk in detail about our fundamental customer/supplier relationship and continual improvement. We do this already in other forums, but this is a first for us on the abort analysis." 

By getting experienced operators, maintainers and system experts at the same table, the gaps in one person's experience are filled by the expertise of another, said Capt. Emma Bolin, 723rd AMXS, HH-60G maintenance officer-in charge.

"All of our aborts for the month of January were stabilator related," said Captain Bolin, referring to the wing-like flight control surface under the tail rotor. "When we began comparing notes from the maintenance, operational and technical experts, we determined all of these failures were preventable if we performed a simple check before each flight." 

The abort court can also identify less obvious problems that defy basic troubleshooting logic, said Colonel Taylor. 

During the HC-130P abort court held March 9, Colonel Taylor told a story about a component on an AC-130U that was prone to failure. His tale highlighted the value of a team approach to problem solving. 

"One manufacturer had put a heater strip in a component to keep it warm, but another team had placed a cooling air duct into the same box," he said. "As a result, the heater that wasn't made to run constantly, did. When it inevitably failed, the system went down. Both teams had to sit at the same table to realize they were working to opposite ends. The problem was solved by simply sealing the air duct." 

The concept of a panel of experts attempting to solve a complex or troublesome maintenance issue is a common practice. Specialized panels, sometimes referred to as "Tiger Teams," are usually formed once an issue has been identified as a trend or a high risk. 

With the abort court, every single failure that costs a mission or makes a crew move to another aircraft can receive the same level of attention, before it becomes a trend or a crisis, said Colonel Russell. 

The new mindset requires a bit of patience to identify trends or complete analysis, but there is also a lot of immediate feedback, said Colonel Russell. 

"Personally, I get instant reward because this gets to the heart of 723 AMXS's piece of the mission," said the colonel. "The monthly meeting can be instant reward if we walk out with new understanding of an issue and an immediate corrective action. More likely, it identifies things to watch over time for recurrence, or the need to staff a corrective action that might take time to bear fruit."