Technicians at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia have been working 10-hour days, seven days a week since getting approval Aug. 25 to produce new aileron actuator levers for T-38 trainers. Now, the ALC believes they will be able to boost their output from 50 levers per week to 75 and shift the completion date for 250 left-hand levers and 250 right-hand levers from the end of December to mid-November. The Air Force began the lever production effort when an accident investigation board cited the component as a contributing factor inthe fatal crash of a T-38 in April at Columbus AFB, Miss. The service’s other two ALCs—Ogden ALC in Utah and Oklahoma City ALC in Oklahoma—have been working the lever production, as well, to cover nearly 600 T-38s as quickly as possible. Because the original forgings for the parts to the 40-plus-year-old aircraft, the centers had to develop prototypes for the components, which require precise, intricate milling. (Robins report by Wayne Crenshaw)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.