7th EMS Airmen repair main landing gear strut

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. David Owsianka
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

Aircraft are routinely inspected by maintenance personnel to ensure they are consistently mission ready. If an aircraft part is damaged, leaking or needs to be fixed then Airmen will step up to repair or replace the component to keep the aircraft flying.

Airmen with the 7th Equipment Maintenance Squadron recently inspected the landing gear on a B-1B Lancer aircraft and determined that one of the main landing gear struts needed to be replaced.

“Having a working landing gear strut is important because it ensures that the aircraft can land and take off safe and smoothly,” said Tech. Sgt. Cody Deel, 7th EMS repair and reclamation NCO in charge. “During the initial inspection we noticed that the seals on the inside were running low and that was causing the gear not to effectively move up and down.”

Due to this being the first time the 7th EMS Airmen replaced a landing gear strut, personnel with the 567th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., came to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, to provide in-depth landing gear knowledge and worked side-by-side with the Airmen to ensure they knew how to properly change the strut.

During the five day maintenance servicing period, the Airmen and civilian personnel took off the gear, removed the portion that was leaking and replaced it.

“Working with the civilians gave us further guidance to help ensure we complete everything successfully in a timely manner,” Deel said. “Throughout our time working together, we learned important techniques to effectively repair a landing gear strut for the B-1B aircraft that we can use in future maintenance scenarios.”

The 7th EMS team also maintains and delivers aerospace ground equipment, fabricates and installs components, performs time phased aircraft inspections in a timely manner as well as provide maintenance for crashed, damaged or disabled aircraft.

“I gained a lot of knowledge while performing this maintenance work,” said Senior Airman Brandon Adams, 7th EMS repair and reclamation journeyman. “We learned good maintenance practices and different ways to accomplish tasks safely while fixing a landing gear strut. If this work comes up again, then we can train the rest of our shop.”