Embarked aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), the “Zappers” of VAQ-130 have been underway supporting Operation Enduring Freedom since May. Flying multiple sorties every day puts great stress on the EA-6B Prowler airframes that have already flown thousands of hours and endured several thousand carrier-arrested landings. The unique abuse of carrier aviation takes its toll on all aircraft regardless of type or age.

The Zappers are the proud owners of two jets with over 10,000 hours, both of which came off the assembly line in 1975. Aircraft 500 (Buno 158815) and aircraft 502 (Buno158805) have performed superbly, but recently presented challenges for the Zapper maintainers. Leading the charge in man hours to keep the birds in the air were the Aviation Structural Mechanics from the Airframes work center.

During the past challenging month, the air framers repaired a multitude of complicated hydraulic system components, major flight actuator system components and components that activate the flaps on aircraft 500 alone. All these things were accomplished while successfully supporting combat operations with the four squadron aircraft.

“I checked in as the Air Frames Branch Officer during that crazy month,” said Lt. Matt Dowdy. “As I was trying to introduce myself and get to know the shop, there was an overwhelming sentiment of ‘Hi, sir, nice to meet you. Now get out of the way, we’ve got work to do.’

He quickly recognized they were highly skilled professionals who take great pride in their jets.

“They worked around the clock to keep us flying,” said Dowdy.

“Diagnosing the problem is more of an art than a science,” said Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class and Leading Petty Officer Johnathon Tyler. “That’s the challenge of working on 35 year old jets.”

Airframers take what the aircrew tells them and start investigating the problem, however minor it might appear to be at first. The next thing they know they’ve found something else to fix. Remove one part, swap out another and see what happens. 

Cmdr. Robert Coughlin, Zapper commanding officer agrees that the Airframes Division and Maintenance Department are the foundation of “this amazing squadron.”

“The Airframes branch has met many challenges head-on, ensuring the Zapper’s had the required resources needed to support Coalition forces on the ground and they did it with great Zapper pride,” said Coughlin. “Every member of the Zapper team executes every task no matter how big or small with precision and continuously focuses on building greater depth-in-expertise across all departments.”

The Zappers’ hard work and dedication, demonstrated so gallantly by the Airframes Division, set the stage for Zapper aircraft to support 100 percent of their mission tasking in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, the VAQ-130 maintenance professionals charged with maintaining some of the Navy’s oldest aircraft are showing no signs of slowing down.