Evading Tropical Storm Ernesto

Published Sept. 7, 2006
By Senior Airman John Gordinier
20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- In preparation for Tropical Storm Ernesto, more than 1,000 personnel hangared aircraft, cleared the flight line and secured equipment at all facilities Aug. 31.

"The real detailed preparation began Aug. 28," said Capt. Anthony Fleming, 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron assistant operations officer. "As soon as the storm became a depression in the Atlantic Ocean, the 20th AMXS started watching it. When it became a tropical storm and projections verified it was going to travel up the east coast, we began making calls to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to see how many jets they could catch, how much equipment we could send and which personnel would deploy for bed down.

"We also took out the hangar plan and started thinking about which aircraft we could tow and which hangars we could clear," he said.

"A large part of the work is shifting gears from normal operations to hurricane preparation," said Chief Master Sgt. Craun Fansler, 20th AMXS maintenance superintendent. "Sometimes you just can't stop the work you're doing on a dime. You have to get to a point where you can safely stop and then start the hurricane preparation.

"The 20th AMXS, 20th Equipment Maintenance Squadron, 20th Component Maintenance Squadron and 20th Maintenance Operations Squadron prepared for the tropical storm," he said. "There is more to the preparation than just hangaring jets; that's the most visible part. Each of the four squadrons has assets, equipment and facilities it must protect. It is a total effort by the 20th Maintenance Group.

"During the four-day weekend, we had about 100 personnel continue with the efforts of the hurricane alert and Operation Noble Eagle every day," Chief Fansler said. "The maintenance group does things like this every weekend. Remember, the enemies of America don't take four-day weekends."