HILL AIR FORCE BASE — In late March, Hill Air Force Base commanders were impressed that their airmen, deployed to Afghanistan, had managed to keep an F-16 flying for 30 straight missions without a mechanical failure.
Imagine how they feel knowing that same plane made it to its 40th straight mission before landing with some mechanical issues that needed some time to work out.
Thirty straight missions is unheard of by military commanders with decades of experience. And 40, well, it's just amazing.
"The fact that we had one of our F-16s fly 40 code 1 sorties in the combat environment is a true testament to the teamwork and excellence of our maintainers and operators," said Col. David Hathaway, vice commander of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base. "I'm very proud of the men and women of the 34th Fighter Squadron and 34th Aircraft Maintenance Unit currently serving in Afghanistan."
Air Force senior leadership has taken note of the plane's crew chief, Staff Sgt. Lucas Inboden, and his entire team. They have been recognized for their professionalism, teamwork and technical skill.
So what finally grounded the F-16 with tail No. 2119?
On March 30, it landed with two problems, or discrepancies, as the Air Force calls them:
The right fuel tank was slow to feed. Through troubleshooting, maintainers revealed a bad fuel flow proportioner, which took 24 hours to diagnose and fix.
The second discrepancy appeared to be a weapons issue that the maintenance team is still working on.
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