You’ve likely heard the U.S. military slogan “no man left behind”.  The men and women of the 910th Airlift Wing in Vienna go by the motto “No Plane Left Behind”.

Crews from the units Maintenance Recovery Team recently went on a mission to “rescue” the bases aerial spray C-130H Hercules grounded at the Mountain Air Force Base in Idaho.

According to Staff Sgt. Noah J. Tancer, on Sept. 27, 2022, Air Mobility Command grounded 116 C-130H Hercules aircraft after inspections raised concern about widespread defects in the propeller assemblies.

That prevented all of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station's fleet from flying, including aerial spray plane which happened to be in Idaho at the time.

"Our aircraft was incapable of making its way home until all four props were changed," said Senior Master Sgt. Tom Seger, the propulsions supervisor with the 910th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. "So we sent our mechanics to it."

The 910th Airlift Wing dispatched a maintenance recovery team to Idaho, Jan. 9-20, 2023, on a mission to get the aircraft up in the air again.

After a successful engine run, test flight and final departure back to YARS, the 910th AW now has an additional operational aircraft.

 

  U.S.A.F. Photo by Staff Sgt. Noah J. Tancer

 

"Our maintenance team was out there getting it done from the minute they hit the ground," said Lt. Col. Drew Tancer, a pilot assigned to the 757th Airlift Squadron and flight commander for the test flight. "It was probably one of the better functional flight checks I've ever had. So yeah, props to them, pun intended."

The 910th AW is tasked with the Department of Defense's only large-area fixed-wing aerial spray capability to eliminate pest insects, control undesirable vegetation and disperse oil spills in large bodies of water. The unit regularly combats the invasive cheatgrass on MHAFB's bombing range, preventing wildfires and making ordinance recovery safer.

Youngstown Air Reserve Station is slated for the repair of another aircraft in February and yet another in August of 2023. Returning more aircraft to service has allowed the 910th's aerial spray mission to start back up with a scheduled trip to spray for undesired vegetation at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in March of 2023.