Everyone had to change moods quickly. Something Fumerola said he and his fellow maintenance crewmembers successfully managed to do. Fumerola and his fellow maintainers have managed their maintenance magic while working in an unusual setting. Maintenance manuals are stacked in a corner beside a tropical potted plant and alongside a row of orange plastic chairs that also serve as desks. Spare parts are kept inside a hangar at the far end of the complex.
Parts are available, but creativity is still needed at times.
When a replacement tip cap was required for a rotor blade, and none was available locally, Kyger said maintenance crews removed the cap from a spare rotor blade they positioned at the logistics base at Air Force Base Hoedspruit, South Africa. Rather than reach back to home station, with a relatively lengthy delay, the part arrived the next day aboard the daily C-130 Hercules flight from Hoedspruit to Beira. It's been tough on all of us. But the fact that we're TDY so much is probably one reason we're doing so well. We can handle it better.