Technicians are replacing the entire upper-fuselage skins of a C-5C Galaxy for the first time at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia in order to address fatigue issues during regular depot maintenance. “We’ve never changed multiple skins like this,” said Jeffrey Cranford, aircraft supervisor with the depot’s 559th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. In the past, “when we would do a segment, we’d take about a three-foot piece out, . . . but now we’re changing the entire skin,” he noted. The technicians work from a specially constructed platform running the length of the massive aircraft. Replacing the aircraft’s 20 “crown skins” takes about five months from start to finish, according to contractor Lockheed Martin, which conducts USAF’s overflow work at its facility in Palmdale, Calif. The replacement is about 95 percent complete on this first aircraft, said Robins officials. (Robins report by Jenny Gordon)
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held meetings with defense leaders from the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea during a trip to the Indo-Pacific this week.