WILDWOOD, N.J. - More than 20 members of the 177th Fighter Wing Crash Disabled Damaged Aircraft Recovery team participated in training on Sept. 19, involving crane-lifting an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, New Jersey.
The training is necessary for completing a tri-annual certification, and the real-world use is in the event an F-16 is immobile and needs to be lifted by a crane and moved off the runway area, said Tech. Sgt. Robert Taylor, a CDDAR team member.
“Our main goal is to remove the aircraft as quickly and safely as possible, without causing any secondary damage,” Taylor said.
“We haven’t had to use this maneuver in a real-world scenario, and hopefully never do, but this team is very capable of handling it,” said Master Sgt. Chris Foye, a 177th FW CDDAR team member.
The 177th FW CDDAR team is a secondary duty for these Airmen and includes specialists from almost every Air Force Specialty Code within the maintenance squadron.
“In the event a plane went down, we need Airmen who are familiar from each component,” Taylor said. “Not everybody’s specialized in everything, but everyone is specialized in something.”