The fabrication flight team of the 403rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base (Biloxi, Mississippi) has developed an in-house program to perform corrosion control on its aircraft.
The salt water and humidity near the Mississippi coast on the Gulf of Mexico can eat away at the metal shell of an aircraft, the U.S. Air Force (Washington, DC) explains. As a result, the Airmen on the fabrication flight utilize a program to repaint sections of the aircraft on a regular basis.
“Paint is vital to maintaining the barrier between metal and the corrosiveness of the atmosphere,” says Senior Master Sgt. Joseph Cantrell, chief of the fabrication flight for the 403rd unit. “During hurricane season, the aircraft are usually painted twice, because the storms peel back the paint to bare metal.”
To help with the painting, the team has a specially constructed paint booth that can hold pieces as big as the outer wing flap of a four-engine military aircraft. The air comes in through one wall and is filtered out through the other, eliminating the environmental hazards of high-pressure painting.
For touchups and larger paint jobs, the Airmen also use rollers and brushes to paint.
“We are considered to be in a highly corrosive environment, and we perform corrosion control and use preventative maintenance,” says Senior Master Sgt. Steven Connors, supervisor of the 403rd’s structural shop. “We’re vital to the structural integrity of the aircraft.”
For more information on the activities of the 403rd Maintenance Squadron and its fabrication flight, read the full Air Force news release.