Aircraft crash team receives T-6 training Published Nov. 28, 2006 By Brian Rochester DynCorp aircraft component repair supervisor Vance Air Force Base, Okla. -- Team Vance maintainers got a crash course in T-6 aircraft recovery when they received initial T-6 lift training Feb. 4. The Vance Aircraft Crash Recovery Team received a combination of classroom instruction and a practical lift exercise application, said Stephen Miller, a training instructor with L3COMM. "Of all the bases we've provided T-6 aircraft lift training for, I have to say the Vance Team was the most efficient and well organized team I've seen so far," Mr. Miller stated. "Once the classroom training was completed, the practical application was executed with no flaws." Recently, DynCorp streamlined the team's processes by reducing the number of crash recovery team members to a highly experienced, select few, as well as implementing a thorough initial and refresher classroom and computer-based training program, said Doug Cole, DynCorp maintenance component repair supervisor. "We have also designed and implemented annual hands-on lift training scenarios for each type of aircraft assigned to Vance Air Force Base," Mr. Cole said. According to Troy Mongold and Justin McCune, team chiefs for the crash recovery program at Vance, the exercise went very well. "We perform annual lift training on all of the aircraft flown here, so we've learned to work well together," said Mr. Mongold. "We've even had the opportunity to recover crashed aircraft." In fact, the Vance team was called to provide recovery efforts for actual damaged and downed aircraft at Vance and Tinker Air Force bases in 2004. Most recently, the team was dispatched to Tinker AFB in December to assist with a Vance T-38 aircraft that belly-landed, gear up. "Tinker's crash recovery team isn't qualified to lift a T-38 airframe like we are," said Mr. Mongold, who has been on the team for eight years. "We have the equipment and experience to provide crash recovery services anywhere in the west coast region, when called upon." A great deal of thinking outside the box goes into being a team member because the main priorities of Aircraft Crash Recovery are to quickly and safely return active runways to operational status, while preserving evidence for the accident investigation board and eliminating secondary damage to the aircraft due to other recovery methods, said Mr. Cole. "More often than not, environmental conditions are far from textbook scenarios," he said. "As a result, our team's success is dependent on the analytical thinking contributed by all of its team members."