Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Tech. Sgt. Lawrence, Quality Assurance inspector, performs a Key Task Listing inspection on an F-22 Raptor engine at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia Feb. 18, 2015. QA is comprised of every specialty within the maintenance group, including crew chiefs and the fabrication flight, and are responsible for performing inspections as well as maintaining every special maintenance program for the wing and group. Lawrence is currently deployed from Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and is a native of Detroit, Mich. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Marie Brown)Tech. Sgt. Lawrence  performs a key task listing inspection on an F-22 Raptor engine Feb. 18, 2015, at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. The quality assurance team is comprised of every specialty within the maintenance group, including crew chiefs and the fabrication flight. They are responsible for performing inspections as well as maintaining every special maintenance program for the wing and group. Lawrence is a quality assurance inspector. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Marie Brown)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res
        


        Tech. Sgt. Lawrence, right, Quality Assurance inspector, verifies that Staff Sgt. Justin, F-22 Raptor crew chief, completed the aircraft forms properly reflecting the engine was installed prior to starting a Key Task Listing inspection at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia Feb. 18, 2015. The QA team has conducted roughly a thousand more inspections than typically accomplished by past rotations as well as advised and recommended eight one-time inspections to the Maintenance Group commander. Lawrence is currently deployed from Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and is a native of Detroit, Mich. Justin is currently deployed from Tyndall AFB, Fla. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Marie Brown)Tech. Sgt. Lawrence (right) verifies that Staff Sgt. Justin completed the aircraft forms properly reflecting the engine was installed prior to starting a key task listing inspection at an Feb. 18, 2015, at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. The quality assurance team has conducted roughly a thousand more inspections than typically accomplished by past rotations as well as advised and recommended eight one-time inspections to the maintenance group commander. Lawrence is a QA inspector and Justin is na F-22 Raptor crew chief.  (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Marie Brown)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Quality assurance: Making sure it’s done rightPublished Feb. 25, 2015
                    
                    By Tech. Sgt. Marie Brown
                    
                    
                    U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs
            **SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --**Have you ever watched a movie, or professional wrestling, and find yourself rooting for the villain at the end?
Around the flightline, there’s a group of ‘bad guys’ that represent their career field’s most knowledgeable maintainers and make up the office known as quality assurance.
“We are the eyes and ears of the maintenance group commander,” said Senior Master Sgt. Roosevelt, the quality assurance chief. “We advise and provide him recommendations on the quality of maintenance in regards to everything that goes on in the maintenance group (MXG).”
With individuals from nine different organizations across three major commands (MAJCOM) throughout the Air Force, the QA teams are responsible for training and inspecting the maintainers here on six airframes.
“We make sure Airmen are completing their tasks safely and that it is done correctly the first time around,” said Tech. Sgt. Lawrence, an F-22 Raptor QA inspector. “We make sure they are using the technical data that is provided and the safety equipment they have been issued.”
We shouldn’t be the ones to come through and find anything wrong, everything should be perfect, Rucker added.
QA is comprised of every specialty within the maintenance group, including crew chiefs and the fabrication flight, and are responsible for performing inspections as well as maintaining every special maintenance program for the wing and group.
“We do what we call special inspections,” said Lawrence, currently deployed from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. “These are pretty much inspections that are done according to Air Combat Command’s Maintenance Standardization Evaluation Program.”
One type of inspection that QA performs is a key task listing (KTL), which are inspection items that have been deemed so important from a quality perspective that it is mandatory that QA looks at them either while they are being conducted or immediately upon completion. The MXG commander, the MAJCOM and the Air Force determine the items that are mandatory KTL items.
Despite an ever-increasing operational tempo, QA has not been significantly impacted by challenges in the performance of their job.
“It just requires us to be more vigilant,” said Roosevelt, currently deployed from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. “We did increase the amount of inspections that we perform. So whether it is one sortie or three thousand sorties flown in a month, we are going to be here to make sure that quality maintenance is being conducted.”
Sometimes the outcome from an inspection may not always be what maintenance Airmen want, which is why QA Airmen are known as the ‘bad guys.’
“If we see something going wrong our job is pretty much to report it no matter how silly it is,” Lawrence said. “We can have the title all day long, a lot of people feel we have a fail quota but that is not the case. Many of us pride ourselves over our passes, not our fails.”
Aside from inspections, one of the special maintenance programs the QA Airmen maintains is the Chaffing Awareness Program. This is when an aircraft has been identified as having a line rubbing up against another line or a wire that might be rubbing up against another wire.
“When this happens we are mandated to do a 10 percent inspection to make sure it is not a fleet-wide problem here,” Roosevelt said. “If we do that one-time inspection and identify it is a fleet-wide problem, then it might be fleet wide within the Air Force. We will then send that information up to Air Mobility Command or ACC, and they will determine if they need to do an inspection across the Air Force.”
Since arrival, there has been one incident where the MAJCOM had to conduct a fleet wide one-time inspection, added Jones.
The scope of QA responsibilities is not just constrained to the immediate area.
“We are also responsible for the foreign object damage awareness and dropped object prevention program at two other locations in our area of responsibility,” Roosevelt said. “We run these programs for the vice wing commander against these other organizations.”
QA has definitely earned a reputation for taking care of business.
The QA team has conducted roughly a thousand more inspections than typically accomplished by past rotations; yet their time is not done. They have also advised and recommended eight one-time inspections to the MXG commander.
The team has also contributed to identifying over 400 QA honor roll individuals within the maintenance group that deserved to be recognized. Additionally, they have conducted classroom-style training for members of the expeditionary maintenance group.
“It’s not just about observing, evaluating or reporting (issues),” Roosevelt said. “It is also about finding out how we can make it better.”
Even the bad guys have soft spots.
“If I see something (bad) and I prevent it from happening, that is the most rewarding part of my job,” Lawrence said. “I know it is small and minute, but small things like that make me happy.”
So yes, sometimes it’s certainly OK (and encouraged) to root for the bad guys.
“At the end of the day, we make sure we have safe and reliable aircraft available for operations,” Roosevelt said. “Operations then conducts the missions that they are being tasked with by the air tasking order.”southwest asia 



quality assurance 



maintainers 



maintenance 



flightline 



deployed 



AFCENT Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil