Email
PrintGrounded
TAC maintenance crew keeps old planes in the air
(page 1 of 2)
They’re not brain surgeons, but a mistake on the job could be just as disastrous as if they were. With every turn of a specialized wrench, the mechanics at Teton Aviation Center’s maintenance department take someone’s life into their hands. Tasked with responsibility for keeping the vintage warplanes in Dr. Richard Sugden’s personal fleet in top-flight condition, the crew spends hours upon hours checking, rechecking, and checking again the tiniest details.
“The smallest thing will bring down an airplane—it’s nerve-wracking any time these things leave the runway,” says Chris Neuman, who started working at Teton Aviation Center (TAC) north of Driggs in 2003.
The son of a career Navy officer, Sugden, a Jackson-based family physician, followed his father into service, becoming a Navy flight surgeon. When he retired, he wasn’t ready to give up the thrill of commanding a fighter jet. His current warbird collection includes two Korean War-era Russian MiGs, a T2-B Buckeye, a T-28 Trojan, and an FJ-4 Fury, Sugden’s personal favorite and the only one of its kind still flying in the world.
Built in 1958, the Fury today flies on an overhauled Douglas A-4 Skyhawk engine, with salvaged accessories from the Fury’s original engine. Two more Skyhawk engines lie in wait at the TAC shop, stored in anticipation of another necessary engine swap. “They were all removed from aircraft in the early seventies, so you don’t know if they are going to work until you have spent the time and money to remove the bad engine and install the overhauled engine,” says Steve Phillips, the department manager.
Despite the uncertainty with salvaged pieces and parts, Sugden says he feels safe in the old plane, perhaps even safer than in a newer one. “It has been well-tested and potential failures are documented and avoided,” he explains.
Just as highly seasoned pilots consult a checklist prior to every flight, the TAC maintenance crew operates strictly from written manuals, leaving nothing to memory. Line by line, the mechanics inspect each part, each system, and each seal. Mandatory yearly inspections take four to six weeks per airplane to complete.
Less detailed but no less important pre- and post-flight inspections check fluid levels, tire condition, brake functioning, and oil and nitrogen readings. Pilots use “squawk sheets” to document issues encountered during flight, and the mechanics must sign off when they’ve addressed the problem.
Though they routinely follow checklists, working on the warbirds isn’t a rote task. Neuman says he starts each day by anticipating every possible disaster and then thinking, “What can I do to make it not happen?”
Paying attention to the details helps, but sometimes the manuals don’t have all the information needed to fix an issue, explains Phillips. That’s when the crew must call on common sense, creativity, intuition, and experience—and each other.
The TAC mechanics all attended different aircraft-maintenance schools, but “you don’t really learn the industry until you get out of school and actually start working on the different planes,” Phillips says. Neuman, the most recent graduate in the bunch, agrees: “I didn’t actually work on any airplanes in school.” Instead, he says, he spent a lot of time learning how to wade through all the FAA paperwork, a task the TAC crew mostly leaves to Phillips.
