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***image1***Six Romanian officers met with Ramstein leadership March 14 to 18, to learn more about how the U.S. Air Force does business.
Romania, new to NATO since March 2004, boasts an air force consisting of five C-130s and keeps all scheduling and maintenance records on paper.
“The purpose of their visit was to get a basic look at our Air Force and what we do to get in the air,” said 1st Lt. Chad Parks, 86th Maintenance Group officer in charge of quality assurance.
The officers toured aircraft backshops and hangars here and looked at how logistics are set up and how scheduling and repairs are conducted.
“We got to see things first hand here,” said Lt. Commander Liviu Bran of the Romanian Air Force. “We want to take as much information as possible and compare to how we do ours.”
The Romanians also looked at mission capabilities of the U.S. Air Force. They saw things such as cargo loading, parachutist’s capabilities and the E-model C-130s, which have improved cockpit instrumentation compared to the older B-model C-130s.
An isochronal inspection was also demonstrated for the officers during their visit. An isochronal inspection is a very detailed maintenance inspection conducted every six months on aircraft.
They also looked at aircraft wash stations, giving them tips on how to wash aircraft and where to look for corrosion.
“I was told you were the best Air Force in the world,” said Lt. Col. Ion Dragomir a Romanian pilot. “After coming here I realized that is true; you have great people who know what they are doing.”
The visit was an agreement between U.S. European Command and the country of Romania and more events between the two are being planned.
“This is a very worthwhile cause. Not only to further their air force capabilities, but to further diplomacy between the two countries,” said Lieutenant Parks.
