EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- The roar of the jet can be felt inside the truck as 354th Civil Engineer Squadron power production Airmen wait for the go ahead from the tower.
Once approved for entrance onto the flightline, the Airmen’s work begins.
In 10 minutes, these Airmen work from one end of the flightline to the other to stretch out the long cable barriers that must be laid out for the jets to fly.
“They can’t take off without us,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Wilson, a 354th CES power production technician. “We will never be the reason for a delayed take off.”
The power production Airmen’s motto is “catch and release,” referring to catching the aircrafts tail hook and releasing it to be fixed. The barrier must be properly placed on the flightline in case of an in-flight emergency.
“Each jet is equipped with a tail hook,” said Senior Airman Arbab Uddin, a 354th CES power production technician. “If they can’t stop, they drop the hook and we catch them on the ground.”
During RED FLAG-Alaska, it is critical these Airmen are efficient at their job, as the exercise tempo is faster than normal operations. Wilson said during RF-A, they work split shifts to ensure their people are ready for anything that comes their way.
Along with setting up and taking down barriers, power production is also responsible for the maintenance and operations of the aircraft arresting systems on the runway, which according to Wilson, is a BAK-12 aircraft arresting system capable of stopping tail hook-enabled fighter aircraft.
“Per the Air Force, if any fighter aircraft is in the air, the runway they are landing on has to have an aircraft arresting system up and operational,” said Wilson. “If not, they get diverted to a different runway.”
Challenges pop up for everyone from time to time. Uddin said the biggest challenge he faces comes in the form of communication.
“The hardest part for us is when the tower and airfield operations don’t clearly tell us which orientation of the barriers they want up,” said Uddin. “But we try to make sure that rarely happens.”
The power production shop has mastered the art of their job, serving as a safety net for all tail hook-enabled fighter aircraft touching the Eielson flightline.