[Pilots] AMO Report

[Jerry Rosendahl]

*MN Wing Aircraft Maintenance Officer Report - October 1, 2023*

*Happy New Year (Federal Fiscal Year 2024)!*

1.  As of the time I'm writing this, *there are no missions open and
aircraft maintenance has been ordered stopped.*  With the signing of the
federal continuing resolution I assume they will open up the missions and
maintenance in the coming days, but any official word on that will come
from CAP-USAF, NHQ or MN Wing leadership.

2.  *There are currently 21 open discrepancies in AMRAD.*  A copy of this
list is attached. As of today, *100% of the MN aircraft fleet is UP*.
Upcoming maintenance is as follows: N853CP is currently at Stanton,
flyable, awaiting 2024 mx funding for a 50 hour inspection, corrosion block
and a few other items. N97465 is very close to coming into mx for left and
right magneto overhauls. A few other tail numbers are within 9 to 17 hours
before coming into mx.

3.  *Failure to enter ATD and ATA in your sorties is causing problems -
again/still!*  This issue has been addressed before but we still have
sorties being closed without filling in these times. The result is the
sorties are entered as having taken place on *1/1/1900*. Yes - 1/1/1900 -
that's not a mistaken date. The end result is that the closing tach time is
not reflected correctly when the data is transferred over to AMRAD. Then
we're looking at incorrect data for upcoming mx - which is potentially a
safety and/or mission readiness issue. This would make a good topic for
your next pilot's safety meeting.

4.  *Final FY2023 flying hours (Hobbs) for squadrons are as follows:*
130th - 437.3; Viking - 333.7; Mankato - 316.8; North Hennepin - 292.7; St.
Croix - 289.4; Anoka - 196.9; Stanton - 194.1; Hutchinson - 181.8; Crow
Wing - 165.5; St. Cloud - 152.1; Southeast MN - 149.4; others were below
100 hours. (this data comes from the MN Wing intranet)

5.  *Final FY2023 flying hours comparison Nationally:*  Mn Wing ranked 27th
of the 52 Wings with an average of 177.9 flying hours. My memory says we
were 32nd last year. Within the North Central Region we were #1! Missouri
was a very close second at 176.8, followed by Nebraska at 124.9, South
Dakota at 118.6, Kansas at 114.2, Iowa at 109.8 and North Dakota at 79.4.
To refresh your memory, MN has 16 airplanes and none of the other Wings in
NCR have more than 8. (this data comes from NHQ WMIRS)

6.  *Bent towbar and broken electric tug at Wing:*  Within the last month
at Wing HQ/Aircraft Maintenance Hangar the big orange towbar was bent and
the electric tug switch was broken. The only way to bend that towbar is to
use the blue pickup and tow an airplane past its turning stop point on the
nose gear. The towbar will have to be replaced at no small expense. I don't
know the details on the electric tug but I know it was out of service for a
while. MN OPS staff is exploring methods to stop these things from
happening again.

7.  *Washing your airplane includes the underbelly!:*  Airplanes use oil.
Airplanes also loose oil out the breather. This oil ends up on the
underbelly along with copious amounts of dirt. When you wash your airplane
in the spring and fall as required (hint, hint), you must include the
underbelly even though it's a dirty process.

8.  *Updating tach times:*  From time to time John and/or I update tach
times on the MN Wing Intranet. We do that so we have the latest information
possible when updating our mx plan. We take these times out of WMIRS or
AMRAD. If you're the person to update tach times for your unit and see that
someone else has already done it, it may have been us. Just trying to help!

9.  *Hutchinson (HCD) runway to be closed:*  Hutchinson airport will be
closed from October 9 - November 17 for runway maintenance. No CAP
airplanes will be left there during that time.

10.  *CAP-USAF use of MN Wing C172:*  CAP-USAF will be taking one of our
C172s to a CAP-USAF Flight Clinic in Kansas from October 21 - 28. Their
request was for a C172 with G650 and currently we are planning on N9912L
for that trip since it was the lowest flight hours in the fleet. They
anticipate putting 30 - 35 hours on it.

11.  *Contact me with any comments or questions.*

Jerry Rosendahl, Lt Col, CAP
MN Wing AMO
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