Checking 'everything associated with flying'

  • Published
  • By Nick DeCicco
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Travis Airmen within the 60th Operations Group recently participated in an inspection of their skills during the Aircrew Standardization and Evaluation Visit.

The inspection, which began Jan. 25 and went through Tuesday, was a multifaceted probe into the abilities of approximately 650 to 700 Travis aircrew members' ability to operate the base's three airframes.

"This checks everything associated with flying," said Maj. Brandon Tellez, 60th OG chief C-17 Globemaster III pilot representative.

The ASEV is a four-pronged inspection dissecting the 60th Air Mobility Wing's ability standardization and evaluation, training, tactics, host aviation resource management and squadron aviation resource management, said Maj. Jason Ceccoli, 60th OG chief of standardization and evaluation.

Ceccoli said this year's ASEV came at an unusual time for Travis due to the Pentagon's decision to synchronize inspections at military installations. Instead of the standard 40 months between ASEV inspections, this one took place 17 months after the last.

Because of the shortened time frame, inspectors focused on records, procedures, adherence to regulations and more.

Tellez said the 60th OG has worked to standardize as many processes as possible across the base's three airframes, the C-5 Galaxy, KC-10 Extender and C-17, since the previous ASEV.

"It was quite challenging to build a robust, solid program that standardizes three different airframes," he said. "Getting all three airframes on the same playing field is a unique challenge to Travis."

Maj. Doug Meyer, 60th OG deputy, said the purpose of standardizing the processes wasn't simply to achieve high marks on the ASEV.

"It's about codifying everything we do so that the guidance outlives the people," Meyer said. "It validates the fact that when people hear airplanes flying over their house, they know they're properly trained."

Training is where Maj. Matt McDonnell, 60th OG chief of wing aircrew training, comes in. Areas of similarity between the airframes, he said, are how completion of training requirements is tracked, policies for in-processing new Airmen and what to do if a member fails a check ride.

During the ASEV, McDonnell said Airmen showed off their skills as well as briefing the inspectors.

"ASEV standards go into painstaking detail," McDonnell said. "If we fail the ASEV, we are not mission ready. Everything we do is to get the metal into the air."

McDonnell said the training portion of the job often goes unnoticed to those outside of the operations realm.

"There's the perception that we fly on trips, make a bunch of noise and then we're done with flying, but it's of ultimate importance that we meet our training requirements," he said. "We do a lot of office work to do to maintain compliance."

The ASEV for the 60th AMW came immediately after the inspectors reviewed the Reserve counterparts in the 349th Air Mobility Wing.