A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TECHNICIAN

Group Capt SULTAN M HALI take us through a

routine day in the life of an aircraft technician

That night at 11, he and another Crew Chief were all alert on their duties when the ADA siren started blowing to announce the scramble. The pilots ran towards their aircraft but the two Crew Chiefs reached their aircraft before them. They hurriedly went through the star-up drill and within seconds saw their aircraft off.

When his aircraft passed close to him, Yasin suddenly noticed that fuel was flowing freely from its overboard drain. He ran after the aircraft in a bid to stop it but it was taxing too fast for him to catch up. Luckily, the Squadron Engineering Officer (SEO) saw his plight and rushed to him in his jeep. He inquired of him the problem. Because of the impending roar of the aircraft engines Senior Technician Yasin could only signal with his hands that the aircraft had to be stopped. SEO picked the Crew Chief up in his vehicle and drove along with the aircraft. They managed to reach the aircraft just prior to brake release and motioned the pilot to hold the take-off. Yasin crawled under the aircraft and to his horror discovered that the refueling handle was down. The afternoon Crew Chief had forgotten to raise the handle after refueling the aircraft. He signalled the pilot to return to the ‘Pen’. He complied and took the standby aircraft after patting the Crew Chief on the back.

If that aircraft had taken off, the fuel flowing from its overboard drain would have reached the After Burner flame and a big fire would have resulted. The pilot would have had to eject and PAF would have lost a precious aircraft.

Senior Technician Yasin’s life is full of thrills, suspense and above all job satisfaction. Incidents like the one narrated above are not uncommon. Sometimes he has to rush to the runway to assist a pilot landing in an emergency while many a times he has to accept the challenges of technical snags and intricacies. He had joined PAF in his teens after successfully completing the Secondary School Certificate Examination in Science subjects. He was contemplating what to do with his life when he saw this ad in a newspaper urging him to join PAF. The Selection Centre was about 150 kms from his village and when he reached it, he was disappointed to see the long queue of applicants. His turn eventually came. After a series of tests to judge his intelligence, academic knowledge and medical fitness, he was asked to go home and wait for further instructions. Yasin’s joy knew no bounds, when after only four weeks he received a call-up letter from Air Headquarters. He had been recruited for the Aero-Tech trade of PAF and had to report to the Airmen Trade Training School at PAF Kohat for training. The next three years were a whirlwind of rigorous academic and physical training at various training centres until he was posted to a flying squadron.

Training did not finish at the training centres. It is an on-going process that continues throughout the entire service career of an airmen. In the squadron Yasin had to undergo comprehensive on-the-job training on the weapon system he was supposed to work, according to a specific plan, under the able guidance of his supervisors till he achieved a proficiency level where he was cleared to work independently. It is only recently that after 12 years of service, he has acquired the status of a supervisor and is working as a Crew Chief. In between he had to qualify several examinations to earn his promotions and climb up the ladder of the service careers. Besides the Service Examination, he has had to attend and will continue to attend many courses to keep him abreast of the latest developments in the technological field.

Yasin’s day normally starts before dawn, be it summer or winter. Hours before the pilot arrives for the acceptance of the aircraft for flying the first mission, he must ensure that every tradesman has inspected the aircraft. All the defects observed in the previous mission flown and noted in the aircraft’s Form-781, (its log book) have been rectified and cleared to the satisfaction of the SEO.

As soon as the aircraft returns from the missions, it is his duty to receive it as a Crew Chief. The pilot tells him of any technical problems observed and once again with his team of specialists, under the guidance of the SEO, Yasin sets to work to prepare the aircraft for the next mission. The engine fitter, the airframe specialist, the Radio and Radar mechanic, the armament technician, the life saving equipment specialist all swarm like bees around the aircraft working in the scorching heat on the blistering sun baked skin of the aircraft in the summers or in the icy cold winds of the winter. Come rain or sunshine, it is a race against time to keep the aircraft at optimum readiness. Once the last mission of the day has been flown, Yasin and his team makes sure that the aircraft are free of all defects and only then leave their work centres. Sometimes this means even working till midnight or beyond.

Yasin is proud of his work. He knows that keeping an aircraft flight-worthy is one of the most challenging jobs. A fighter aircraft is one of the most sophisticated machines in the world. It is not like a motorbike or a car which can be parked by the roadside when it breaks down and can be driven away when the fault is rectified. When an aircraft faulters in the air, nothing short of a miracle can bring it back. Therefore, the kind of responsibility, awareness and skill required by Yasin and his fellow technicians’ display is unmatched elsewhere because the margin of error is narrow or nil. They cannot take the liberty to overlook even a screw which is loose, or a pipe which is leaking even slightly, or even the smallest scratch on any skin panel of the aircraft.

He feels the responsibility of his job to his very bones. He knows that it is a precious human life which is at stake. The life of a combat pilot, who has been trained at tremendous cost. A life which imperils itself to go up in the air to meet any challenge, any threat and defend the motherland, Yasin’s beloved Pakistan. It is up to him to give the pilot the confidence that each time he is scrambled, his aircraft is operationally and technically fit. When he presses his trigger to operate his guns or launch a missile, it would be a confirmed kill’. When the pilot brings back an aircraft damaged due to hostile fire, Yasin knows that he must ensure to recover it as soon as possible and make it as lethal as ever to fly again and again and pounce on any enemy daring to violate Pakistan’s aerial frontiers.

When Yasin finishes his work for the day, he returns to his small but cosy quarters provided by PAF. He offers his thanks to Allah, for every victory the pilot achieves in the air is a personal triumph for him because he has sweated in the sizzling afternoons, lain awake in the shivering nights to keep the aircraft ready for its mission. He has been vigilant and ready to meet any technical challenges and, above all, he has silently prayed for the safe return of the pilot and his triumph over the enemy.

It is the likes of Yasin, who clad in their green coveralls armed with their tool kits, under the guidance of their Engineering Officers are the main force behind the operational readiness of the aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force.