Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. -- Reservists from the 712th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron repaired a Team Dover C-17 Globemaster III, here, after it encountered an engine bird strike near Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.
The plane landed at Charleston AFB, South Carolina, since Dover AFB's runway is closed for repairs.
"We had a real challenge with this aircraft," said Maj. Steven Keenan, maintenance operations officer with the 712th AMXS. "Normally we would simply fly it back home for the repair, but due to the runway closure, we couldn't. Our next step would have been to fly a Maintenance Recovery Team to Ft Campbell to fix the aircraft, an expensive proposition."
Leadership decided to fly the aircraft to Charleston AFB and have it repaired since there were already 512th Airlift Wing reservists there, as part of their annual training requirements away from home station, according to Keenan.
"We were supremely confident that they could do it, and they came through again" said Keenan.
The team that repaired the aircraft:
712th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Master Sgt. Corey Diluzio
Tech. Sgt. Joel Griffith
Tech. Sgt. Kevin Flowers
Staff Sgt. Brandon Bermudez
Senior Airman Marc Dannemiller