Kenneth Johnson, 561st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron

Kenneth Johnson, 561st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron electronics technician, examines a wiring harness on an F-15, during depot maintenance Feb. 16, 2017, at Robins Air Force Base. Tanya Thompson, 561st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron aircraft worker, and Alvin Abraham, 561st AMXS aircraft hydraulic systems technician, install hydraulic lines in the airframe mounted accessory drive area of an F-15 during depot maintenance Feb. 16, 2017, at Robins Air Force Base. The aircraft was flown to the base by a fighter wing commander and has now reached the half-way point in its PDM regimen. As a gesture of thanks to the team that keeps his unit’s fighter planes flying, Col. Christopher Sage, commander of the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., personally piloted the aircraft into Robins Air Force Base on Nov. 30. A memorable moment during the veteran pilot’s visit was having his photograph taken in front of an F-15 stripped down to a “cigar” – de-painted and de-winged for PDM. That is the state his Eagle reached as of last week. Standing next to the fuselage in building Bldg. 47 on Feb. 16, 1st Lt. Matt Treptau, operations officer for the 561st AMXS, said the aircraft was in its fifteenth day in the repair gate, typically a 21-day stop along the PDM path for an F-15. “This gate,” he said. “This is really the reason (aircraft) come to the depot.” The entire F-15 PDM process takes an average of 135 days, Treptau said. The complex team aims to trim that to 88 days. The gates an F-15 passes through during PDM include in-processing, inspection, repair, buildup and operations check, and functional test flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tommie Horton/Released) (U.S. Air Force photo by Tommie Horton/Released)