Outstanding results earned in flight line inspections

  • Published
  • By Mary Lou Gorny
  • Hilltop Times editor
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  Superlatives were the order of the day in the out-brief for two recent flight line inspections at Hill Air Force Base. "Best in AFMC," "best weather flight in 29 years," "I defy anyone to find any one better" and "shortest results brief I've given because there was nothing but good news," were just some of the inspectors' comments.

The Air Traffic System Evaluation Program (ATSEP) and The Standardization and Evaluation Program - Weather Operations (SEPWO) inspections conducted Aug. 8-12 brought praise across the board from the operations support commander and the inspection team, without question or reservation.

"If you look at the history of baseball there are a lot of teams who have won the World Series," said Lt. Col. Juris "Drag" Jansons, 75th Operations Support Squadron commander, as he brought the results into a realm most sports fans would understand. "There are not so many teams who have won the World Series with a shut-out. There are even fewer teams who have won the World Series with a no-hitter," he said. "We set our objective to win the World Series with the perfect game," said Jansons.

For those less familiar with baseball, no one has ever won the World Series with a perfect final game. For example, letting one runner on base (due to say four balls and a walk), still fulfills the no-hitter analogy. Only twelve teams in the history of baseball have had no-hitters in the final game of the World Series; not one has ever taken it with a perfect game.

"We did very, very well," said Jansons. "The grade for the air field portion (ATSEP) is a pass/fail and the first comment (from the inspection team leader) was: 'If I could give a grade it would be outstanding.'

In the most recent inspection in 2009, the Hill AFB ATSEP received its passing grade with 16 checklist items identified. This year the passing grade came with just 13. Several members involved in the ATSEP portion were listed as "superior performers" including: Tech. Sgt. Stan Siaosi, Staff Sgt. Monica Nelson, Senior Airman Jillion Clark, the entire Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems team (ATCALS), Don Gilliand, Krista Hadley and Steve Ames.

Continuing with the inspectors' remarks, Jansons said the descriptions included high praise for ATCALS: "ATCAL'S team synergy led to the first flawless result I've seen in six years."

As for the SEPWO, "the weather portion (SEPWO) is graded -- outstanding, excellent, satisfactory -- and we received an 'outstanding' (for that graded portion)," he added.

The entire flight was selected as superior performers and a final rating was 98.7 percent. In 2009, SEPWO received an "excellent" SEPWO rating of 93.9 percent, rather than the "outstanding" result of the past week. In 2009, the report also included a higher number of findings.

Jansons took command of the 75th OSS in June. "You just can't go from say, zero to outstanding. You have to be operating at a really high level (in order to get these kind of results) -- which we were," he said.

When asked, Jansons compared his own efforts to that of the owner of a World Series team and Maj. Michael Marsicek, for his day-in and day-out and on-the-field decisions, to that of the coach.

Jansons reflected on the duties and the number of different customers served: AFMC, 388th Fighter Wing, 419th Fighter Wing, U.S. Forest Service and even others who use the airspace to keep current on their air crew requirements such as a refueling wing stationed in Salt Lake City, which might drop by from time to time.

"We also support the Weapons Standardization Evaluation Program (WSEP) which has unique requirements about where to park because they're using live ordnance. They are going out and testing live ordnance out on the Utah Test and Training Range," he added. WSEP definitely brings an increased pace and demand on personnel when in play.

The 75th Civil Engineer Group also plays a role in the ATSEP inspection, because of certain aspects of the flight line on the civil engineering side of things.

Said Harry Briesmaster, commander of the 75th CEG, "Air field inspection results were very good as well -- two of the three discrepancies noted are administrative in nature and easily resolved. The third involves air field pavement conditions which will require a continuous investment in air field related pavement projects over the next several years."

Jansons praised all of his people noting that these inspections were conducted in an environment in which a high deployment rate takes some of his people out of the environment here at the base for six months at a time. He praised Capt. Bill Danyluk, Brian Watson, Master Sgt. Stan lLeigh, Arnel Rivera and Tech. Sgt. Tony Stoll. Some personnel took on duties higher than their pay grade or rank and deserved particular praise, he said.

The ultimate question before inspectors is: "Is this a safe place for people to operate in?"

The team that comprises the 75th OSS is made up of many career fields. They have adopted the wolf as their squadron mascot and their motto is: "The strength of the wolf is in the pack!" That commitment to each other results in a safe air field environment and ensures the Team Hill mission continues no matter what the challenge. This latest inspection result validates that commitment.