Unit Safety Award of Distinction

Combat Edge, Dec, 2004

As part of their daily preparation for flight operations, 23rd Fighter Group (FG) maintenance personnel loaded an LAU-117 launcher onto an A-10 in order to carry a TGM-65 for local training sorties. After a routine training sortie on July 12, a post-flight inspection by flight line personnel revealed one of the two LAU-117 suspension lugs was broken. The 23 FG Maintenance Armament Flight began investigating the cause of the fractured lug and discovered an abnormal degree of corrosion on the lower side of the lug. The Armament Flight immediately contacted other A-10 units to see if they had experienced similar problems. They discovered that the 355th Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., had a comparable event several months earlier. The Armament Flight determined the best course of action was to perform a 100 percent inspection on all the base's LAU-117 launcher suspension lugs, so the 23 FG Commander ordered the local one-time Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI). Over a 2-week period, 88 sets of launcher suspension lugs (176 lugs) were painstakingly inspected and two more cracked lugs were found. Eliminating this risk probably prevented serious damage to 23 FG aircraft and personnel and serious damage to civilian personnel or property that could have resulted if a TGM-65 had fallen off an A-10 flying in the local area. The Armament Flight is submitting an AF Form 22 to require NDI of the suspension lugs every 24 months, in addition to the existing inspections. Along with the 23 FG cross-tell, a technical order change will alert the rest of the Air Force of this potentially dangerous situation. The Armament Flight's diligence and creation of the proposed NDI could prevent similar instances across the combat Air Force in units that carry LAU-117s.

23rd Maint. Sqdn., 23rd Fighter Group, Pope AFB, North Carolina