Team Dover C-five’s return to the flight

The first of Team Dover's C-5M Super Galaxy air lifters took flight early on Wednesday after a two and a half week Air Mobility Command commander directed stand down.

In a letter dated last Tuesday, General Carlton Everhart II AMC commander, released five Dover Air Force Base aircraft for immediate tasking. Those aircraft have had necessary repairs to ensure the proper extension and retraction of the nose landing gear. The remainder of the Dover C-five fleet is on stand down pending successful testing, repairs, and evaluation of nose landing gear.

General Carlton D. Everhart II, Air Mobility Command commander says, "My top priority is safety and readiness of our fleet. Our Airmen are working deliberately and methodically at Dover and across the command to identify and resolve any issues impacting the C-5 fleet. We have put measures in place to ensure aircrew safety and reduce wear-and-tear on the aircraft."

Maintainers at Dover have been vital to quickly assessing and bring about possible solutions.

Col. Ethan Griffin, 436th Airlift Wing Commander says, "Team Dover has been at the forefront of the investigation, evaluation, and resolution for the C-5M nose gear malfunction, supported by staff, project office, engineers and teammates from total force bases at Scott, Robins, Travis, Westover and many more. Our maintainers, aircrew and safety personnel are absolutely committed to delivering excellence and Dover pride while ensuring the continued viability of the C-5M enterprise and Rapid Global Mobility for our nation's defense."

The AMC commander directive, dated July 17 reportedly stopped C-five M flying operations at Dover Air Force Base after two C- five M nose landing gear malfunctions within a 60 day period during landings at Naval Air Station Rota, Spain. After careful consideration by General Everhart, the decision was made to ensure the safety of Mobility Airmen.

During the stand-down, team Dover maintainers reportedly conducted extensive C-five M nose landing gear inspections to identify, analyze and fix the issue.

The effort was a true Total Force endeavor. The maintenance crews reportedly included more than 200 active duty, Reserve and civilian airmen. Moreover, engineers from Robins Air Force Base, Georgia and Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Hill A.F.B. Utah were part of the effort.

Colonel Shawn Stermer, 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander says, "When the fleet stood down, most of the maintenance Airmen took it to heart. They took it very seriously and they wanted to be the ones who figured out a solution to bring us out of this stand-down. Many of them worked extended shifts in order to bring our C-5 enterprise back."

A large portion of this work was only accomplished because of cooperation between the active duty and Reserve airmen working side by side.

Colonel Sherry Teague, 512th Maintenance Group Commander says, "Our Reserve team worked alongside the active duty in several phases of the stand-down. From research to the actual work and testing, our 512th maintenance personnel stepped up and provided decades of experience to the problem-solving process."

Maintenance Airmen from the Air Force's three other C-5 bases went to Dover AFB to study the processes undertaken at Dover. The goal is reportedly for them to become knowledgeable at these inspections so they bring them back to their home bases to finish these inspections on their own C-5 fleets. These bases are Travis AFB, California; Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts; and Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

During the stand-down, Mobility Airmen reportedly went on to give Rapid Global Mobility support for the war fighter. The stand down impacted 18 of AMC's 56 C-5s.

All C-5 ball screw assembly parts fleet-wide will be replaced to ensure compliance with standards of performance and maximize aircrew safety.