KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- U.S. Air Force barrier shop technicians and U.S. Navy Seabee teams worked in tandem to overhaul an aircraft barrier arrest system on the flight line Mar. 1.
Every ten years, the arresting system undergoes replacement with updated parts that improve performance of the barrier.
"The barrier that was changed out this week had gasoline rewind engines, and the new diesel engines provide a faster rewind of the purchase tapes and arresting cable, allowing quicker recovery of an aircraft after an arrestment," said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Barry Stollar, 18th Civil Engineer Squadron barrier shop superintendent.
Airmen with the 18th CES barrier shop ensure optimal performance of the aircraft barrier arrest system, which prevents possible aircraft landing complications on a monthly basis.
"We do preventive maintenance every day, but at ten years, critical parts start to wear out and need replacement," said U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Austin Ohst, 18th CES electrical power production journeyman. "So, we did an overhaul of the lightweight fairlead beams and BAK-12 arresting system."
In order to change out the 9,000-pound aircraft arresting system, Stollar called upon the heavy lifting expertise of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 3, who arrived on scene with an Oshkosh wrecker crane in order to pull out a stuck fairlead beam.
"We took the wrecker portion, capable of lifting a tank, and pulled up the beam because it was fused to the concrete," said U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Kyle Louiselle, NMCB 3 Seabees crane supervisor.
Seabees and Airmen strategized various approaches for extracting and replacing the stuck equipment.
"We had to find different ways to sling the beam to remove it," Louiselle said. "Then, we had a hard time lining up the bolts with the replacement, but once we figured all that out, the next barrier took only thirty minutes instead of three and a half hours."
Engineer teams safely replaced the fairlead beams without damage to concrete foundations.
"They were sealed together, but we got it out without any damage so we didn't have to replace any concrete," Ohst said.
In addition to flight line projects, the Seabees play an integral role in assisting as heavy equipment operators for operations such as KC-135 rudder repair, heavy container movement around base and heating ventilation and air conditioning replacement for the U.S. Army.
"We mainly support the Air Force since we have capability to do this kind of work, and even though the Airmen have the same capability, they don't have the same type of equipment," Louiselle said. "We don't always have Navy side work, so we have gone around and made relationships with joint counterparts around Okinawa."
Despite differences in operational backgrounds, Seabees and Airmen completed the barrier overhaul efficiently and without incident.
"It worked out pretty well and everybody was on the same page because we communicated and knew exactly what each person was doing," Louiselle said. "We speak different lingo, but at the end of the day, the job got done."
The barrier shop superintendent appreciated the Seabees' assistance, a collaboration of effort which enabled the joint operation to surpass expectations.
"The operation was a huge success," Stollar said. "The change out was scheduled to take an entire week, and with the barrier maintenance personnel working alongside the Navy Seabees, it was accomplished in two days."