Maintainer keeps C-40s ready to fly

by Staff Sgt. Maria Bowman
375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

3/5/2014 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Many teachers spend their days mentoring students in a classroom, focusing on math, English and science. Master Sgt. Jennifer Glaspell's classroom is an airplane.

Glaspell, a 30-year veteran with the 932nd Airlift Wing (Reserve), is the only female instructor for the C-40 Engine Operator's Course at Scott Air Force Base. She has been teaching military students how to work on the engines for five years, providing them the knowledge to troubleshoot and check repairs to the engines prior to a flying operation.

"I am in charge of teaching the brand-new Airmen basic tasks," Glaspell said. "As a maintainer, we are responsible for preflight inspections, which is checking the entire aircraft to make sure it is safe to fly. We check the tires, inside and outside of the airframe, the hydraulics, instruments and the lights."

In her teaching career, she has taught around 150 students in eight different courses for the C-9C and C-40 B/C aircraft.

Glaspell said she has an impact on all Airmen and the mission that they will do after completion of their training. She is one of four C-40C engine run certifiers in the group and the primary initial engine run qualification trainer. The flying crew chiefs are required to be engine run certified in case the planes have problems anywhere in the world.

She isn't only concerned with operating an engine. As the NCOIC of the 932nd Maintenance Group Maintenance Qualification Training Program section, she teaches a variety of C-40C aircraft maintenance courses, including the 3-skill level awarding follow-on technical school for C-40B/C crew chiefs.

While some Airmen prefer working in a temperature-controlled environment, this maintenance instructor said she loves her job because it doesn't involve sitting at a desk all day.

"I love being outside and doing something physical, as opposed to sitting at a computer tracking data," Glaspell said. "We don't know what we're going to do every day. We have a routine that we do, but we don't really know, day-to-day, what it's going to be."

When she joined nearly three decades ago, the Air Force put her in the maintenance career field. According to Col. James McDonnell, 932nd Maintenance Group commander, women are out-numbered by men in the Air Force by about 4-to-1. In the 932nd MXG, the ratio of male to female maintainers is closer to 12-to-1. Even in a male-heavy career field, he says gender doesn't really play a role in performing the job well.

The 932nd MXG, currently has a total of 27 females across all Air Force Specialty Codes, 16 of which are aircraft mechanics of various specialties, including crew chiefs, propulsion technicians, Aerospace Ground Equipment mechanics and Non-Destructive Inspection technicians.

"Glaspell is a highly experienced crew chief," McDonnell said. "She takes her instructor duties seriously, and conducts herself both in the classroom and on the flight line in a highly professional manner. Excellence in one's profession is not gender-dependent; I'm fully confident she is teaching our Airmen the right way to perform maintenance tasks on our aircraft. Noncommissioned officers of her caliber are a perfect example of how we're lucky enough to be members of the world's greatest air force."

Glaspell said being a woman in her job has never been a hindrance; in fact, it has benefitted her and the mission. She said she accomplished things that her male counterparts couldn't do, including having to crawl into a small space while flying in Germany during Operation Allied Force.

"Behind the pilot's seat, there was this little, tiny door that led down into the electronic department. The pilot came back before we went into Bosnia and said, 'I need you to go down in there and put in the (IFF) identification, friend or foe code,' So, I went down there and did it. The code enables military interrogation systems to identify the aircraft as friendly. It was the one time being little was a good thing. I don't think the pilots could have fit down there."

The maintenance instructor said that regardless of being male or female, both genders bring skills or assets to the team. While someone might have more strength than another, someone else might be smaller and be able to complete tasks that no one else can accomplish.

Glaspell said, "This job really has nothing to do with male or female. Overall, realize that you are doing the same job, and so you just go do it. You will get the respect based on what you do."

New Airmen are welcomed into the Air Force family every day. Glaspell said she would advise the young women who might be considering whether to become a maintainer, to really look at themselves and decide if this career is the right fit for them, as it is for her.

"Not all women or men belong in this career field," she said. "Some people are mechanical and can understand certain things, or like working outside. If that's who you are, then this is a great career field.

"Maintainers work on every Air Force plane," Glaspell added. "Without the maintainers, the mission wouldn't be possible or planes couldn't fly. We try to teach them the foundation the best we possibly can, so they can be reliable as soon as possible."