An interesting surprise for a Monday morning!

Well, the following message was in my (as well as everybody else's) email this morning. I think the submission package for this award must be a present from my last government boss who has moved on to a different position. As far as awards go, this Falcon Team of the Quarter award is one that is well recognized and appreciated by the peer group in this organization so that makes it pretty valuable to the recipients here, even if the physical awards are pretty minor. But its nice to be recognized for the efforts I and the rest of my team have accomplished so far.

Right now we are trying to get the first kit of modification parts on order so we can perform the first aircraft modification to prove that our plan
works. After that, we will be spending lots of money to buy lots of kits! Anyway, read the email!

From: XXXXXXX Robert D Col 508 ACSG/CC
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 5:32 PM
To: 508 ACSG All Personnel
Subject: Falcon Team of the Quarter

Please join me in congratulating the Avionics Sustainment Team as our Falcon Team of the Quarter for the third quarter.

Team Members:
Howard Swanson - Engineer
Lynn White - Equipment Specialist
Nate McCord - Program Facilitator
Thad Wyrobek - Equipment Specialist Support

Their efforts resolved a longstanding Block 25-32 landing light issue at cost $20 M less than previous approaches. There's a more detailed description below.

Congratulations again to the team for their great work!
// SIGNED //

ROBERT D. XXXXXXXXXX , Col, USAF
Commander
508th Aircraft Sustainment Group
DSN 777-

* The Taxi Light on the F-16 Block 25-32 aircraft failed all FAA specs; mounting the targeting pod on station (5R) resulted in additional blocking and decreased illumination as night flight requirements increased - potential hazard caused ACC to request that SPO solve the problem

* LM Aero was contracted to design and provide cost data for a solution; their Block 40 design, although costly and time consuming, was selected because it offered the greatest benefits

- The proposed design required 91 depot modification hours

- Induction fee costs totaled in excess of $25M

* ACC found the cost and down-time unacceptable; team accepted the challenge to find a reasonably priced installation, reduce total mod hours and still provide a Block 40 design

- Their innovative revised routing plan avoided the number one landing gear matrix, reducing the requirement for many operational checks on the aircraft

- An ACC waiver provided an installation which reduced a 91 hour depot modification to a 40 hour field level modification, a savings of more than 2 down days per aircraft!

- The modification saved the Air Force $20M and thousands of aircraft down-time hours

* Hands on knowledge, creative thinking and hard work provided outstanding warfighter support, improved safety, reduced maintenance hours and created an AF model for the future