Maintenance Without a Wrench: Maintenance Operations Control Center Keeps Planes Flying

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennie Chamberlin
  • 927th Air Refueling Wing
MACDILL AFB, Fla. --  It's just like that room you see in the movies: It's dark and cool, and the blue glow of monitors and blinking screens provides the only light. On the wall is the large red world clock, and at workstations shadowy figures are hunched over keyboards or talking on the phone. Two-way radios beep on occasion, and a nearby person grabs it up to give a quick answer. On the walls are huge televisions monitoring the movement of Airman around planes on the flight line.

The room straight out of the movies is the Maintenance Operations Control Center, and it's where Airman keep track of a myriad of details that keep planes flying and fulfilling important missions.

Keeping track of the maintenance status on planes and documenting any maintenance work completed are just a few of the missions of the MOC, said Staff Sgt. Sean Tracey, aircraft production controller, 927th Maintenance Operations Flight. This means whenever a plane is broken, the MOC dispatches a maintenance team to fix it. Whenever any maintenance is completed, the MOC makes a record to ensure the maintenance can be tracked no matter where in the world the plane may be headed, Tracey said.

The MOC also serves as an important liaison between leadership and ground crew maintainers, said Technical Sgt. Chris Sterling, aircraft production controller, 927th Maintenance Operations Flight. Part of the responsibility of the MOC team is to brief leadership about the status of planes that are being repaired.

In addition, the team is also responsible for keeping track of the maintainers on the flight line for security and safety purposes, said Sterling. For example, the MOC will notify any ground crew members who are working to tell them to take shelter in the case of an impending lightning storm.

Juggling the needs of so many people can be a challenge, said Sterling.

"This job can get crazy sometimes," said Sterling. "One minute you have people calling in a problem, and the next thing you know all the phones are ringing."
 
Air crew members, maintainers, and wing leadership all look to the MOC for news and information.

But all this communication is key to ensuring important missions are covered, said Tracey. Screens in the room show the flight line, and the MOC team watches as their collaborative efforts pay off and a plane takes flight after being repaired.

Tracey and Sterling said that working alongside their active duty counterparts and the command post makes communicating with the necessary people a lot smoother.

"There's a lot of camaraderie here," said Tracey. "I look forward to my reserve weekends working with these guys."