A team of technicians with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla., succeeded in determining (good news) what caused the F100 engine fan blade shop to lose nearly $16 million (bad news) over an 18-month period and also managed to devise a method to “significantly reduce costs” (good news) in the future, according to a Jan. 26 Tinker release. Team leader Michelle Waggoner, an industrial engineering technician, attributed much of the problem to supply management and parts integrity, which she said are “a critical area of our business.” She noted, “Simple mistakes in procedure can cost the government and ultimately the taxpayers millions of dollars.” According to Brian deFonteny, with the Black Belt Center Transformation Office, the fan blade shop’s previous method for ordering and receiving parts was “very confusing,” and because of that the “over and under ordering of required fan blades for each F100 engine was inevitable.” The F100 engine powers the Air Force’s F-15 fleet and most of its F-16s. (Tinker report by Brandice Armstrong)
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…