Aerial Spray Maintenance Flight: Here We Grow Again Published April 24, 2007 By Tech. Sgt. Bob Barko Jr. 910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs YOUNGSTOWN AIR RESERVE STATION, Ohio -- The Aerial Spray Maintenance Flight is expanding with the addition of nine traditional Reservist positions and $2.6 million worth of new and additional equipment. The new TR slots mark the first time the maintenance flight will receive part-time help in completing its ongoing mission. The new and additional equipment will modify two more aircraft for the aerial spray mission and upgrade vital mission components both in the aircraft and on the ground. Senior Master Sgt. John Daniels will soon have some new weekend help in his shop. He is the Flight Chief for the Aerial Spray Maintenance Flight, which up until very recently was not authorized for any traditional Reservist positions. Senior Master Sgt. Daniels welcomes the additional hands-on assistance. "They will certainly enhance our capability to meet mission requirements for 24-7 aerial spray operations," he said. The flight chief said with funding from Congress, led by valley Congressman Tim Ryan (D-17, OH), the new TRs will have some new equipment to work on as well. As part of an authorization of $2.6 million in funding to enhance the Aerial Spray mission, four priorities were identified to add to and upgrade where needed the equipment utilized in the operations. Senior Master Sgt. Daniels said the first priority was to update the Global Positioning System units used in the aerial spray aircraft. The second priority was to modify two additional aircraft to be used for aerial spray missions. The third priority was to update the on-board Quantity Indicating Systems, a system that allows the aircrew to know the amount of product available during a spray mission for each aircraft. Finally, the fourth priority was to rebuild the on-ground mixing tanks, utilized in the aerial spray missions, located at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The Maintenance Flight is playing a key role in the first priority identified in enhancing the aerial spray mission; upgrading the GPS systems utilized on the aircraft. The shop that the maintenance flight works out of is chock full of rows of tables and work benches holding an array of blinking, flashing, humming and beeping equipment that would fill R2-D2 with envy. At a work station in the rear of the room, in front of windows overlooking the YARS flight line, Senior Master Sgt. Daniels talks with Master Sgt. Michael Birmingham, an avionics technician also assigned to the shop, about the two units mounted to the work station platform near him. One device is the GPS unit currently used aboard the aerial spray aircraft. It is a SATLOC system that had been specifically adapted for the spray mission. Master Sgt. Birmingham said the unit had several components with analog, push button-style controls with no visual readout screens. The other unit mounted on the work station is the new GPS being currently tested in the shop. It is slated to replace the existing units being used in the spray operations. Master Sgt. Birmingham said after a series of ground and air tests, the new GPS units would be approved and installed aboard all of the aerial spray aircraft and put into real-world use. "This is a new agricultural GPS, it was designed specifically for the aerial spray applications," said Master Sgt. Birmingham. "In addition to giving latitude and longitude, your location, this GPS has a database for tracking the sprays, predicting the spray clouds and the deposition area, (the location where the spray will land). This allows the subsequent sprays to be much more accurate," he continued. While the current GPS system is accurate within 150 feet, Master Sgt. Birmingham indicated, with the correct satellite information, the new GPS unit could match the precision of a laser-guided bomb in being "on target" during a spray mission. "With an Omnistar subscription, this new system enables the spray missions to be accurate within 15 centimeters of a pre-selected target area on the ground," said Master Sgt. Birmingham. He said the Omnistar system allows the Air Force to utilize an optimum number of satellites to allow this kind of precision in spraying even as the aircraft are delivering their payload from 150 feet in the air. Senior Master Sgt. Daniels agreed with Master Sgt. Birmingham that this long-awaited GPS system will only improve what is now an outstanding and one-of-a-kind operation in the Department of Defense. "It has been a long road to get here ... but the new capabilities of (the aerial spray mission) are just beginning," said Senior Master Sgt. Daniels.