MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- When pilots are in an aircraft, the Marines of Aviation Life Support Systems personnel watch over them like guardian angels, working behind the scenes of the flight line to maintain aircraft emergency gear at the station Parachute Loft.
ALSS personnel are responsible for providing and maintaining aircraft emergency gear pilots may use as a last resort.
They rarely make an appearance on the flight line, so their contributions to pilot safety are seldom recognized, said Staff Sgt. Ryan Schmidt, Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 13 ALSS flight equipment technician.
“That's the strange thing about this job,” said Schmidt, a Schenectady, N.Y., native. “A lot of it goes unnoticed because you don't have mishaps very often where the pilots have to eject and use their gear.”
Even though their work may go unnoticed, their jobs are extremely important, said Gunnery Sgt. William Campbell, ALSS staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge.
"When everything else fails, we're the last line of defense," said Campbell, a Winslow, Ariz., native.
“If the plane malfunctions and the pilot has to eject, it’s up to ALSS and our gear to make sure he lives," explained Cpl. John O. Rundle, MALS-13 ALSS flight equipment technician. "We make sure the parachute opens and make sure when they land, wherever they may be, (they will be alright).”
The shop is split up into three different sections – A, B and C – which focus on different areas of aircraft safety equipment.
Section A is in charge of inspecting, maintaining and replacing parachute equipment for aircraft ejection seats, which is the most important of all sections, said Rundle, a Plymouth, England, native.
“It's the heart of what we do,” he added. “If the pilot ejects, the parachute doesn't open and (he) can't reach the ground safely, his survival equipment is useless. What good is (survival gear) if he's dead?"
However, the other sections have an important role too, said Rundle.
Section B works on the seat pan, which is a compartment for survival gear under the pilot’s seat. Items included are life-rafts, food, water, flares and assorted survival gear.
“Let's say the pilot hits the ground in the desert or wherever he may be," said Rundle. "We give him all the equipment that he needs to survive."
Section C is in charge of oxygen-related equipment. They work with oxygen regulators, which control how much oxygen the pilot needs to breathe. The regulators are tested under high altitude and high gravitational force conditions.
“They also work on aneroid actuators," said Schmidt.
An aneroid actuator is a device installed in the ejection seat, which can sense what altitude it's at in order to deploy the parachute. This way the parachute will open automatically even if a pilot is unconscious.
All components handled within each section are routinely inspected.
"The emergency gear we work on has cycles,” said Rundle. “Life preserver units get inspected and repacked every ninety days, whether they are used or not. The parachute is inspected every four hundred and fourty-eight days. After that, it comes back and we reopen it and look for rips, holes and frays. We also put new equipment in (the parachutes) and replace anything that needs to be fixed, then send it back out.”
The flight equipment technicians with ALSS look over their work very closely as they inspect these components because they are responsible for any piece of equipment they examine.
"The good thing about this job is that unlike many high-stress jobs in the Marine Corps, when you're packing the parachute, it's not a rush,” said Rundle. “If we make a mistake, people's lives are on the line.”
A low-stress environment isn’t the only comforting aspect of Rundle's job. He said the fact that he builds life-saving equipment is the most rewarding feeling. For example, the pilot in the June 15 AV-8B Harrier jet crash near the station lived because of Rundle's parachute.
"This last aircraft that went down used my parachute,” Rundle said. “It's not every day our gear gets used. People go out, fly and come back. If they don't crash, then it's good. If they do crash, then it's good to know our equipment saved their lives.”
Knowing their equipment is used gives a feeling of self-satisfaction to many of the ALSS personnel.
"When you know you are directly responsible for sending that pilot home to his wife and kids, that's like no other feeling in the world," said Campbell.
Rundle and Campbell's fellow Marines can relate to their feelings for the work they do, said Schmidt.