Seymour Johnson AFB exceeds fiscal goals through strong planning, execution

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Victoria Boyton
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

The 4th Fighter Wing held many events during the 2017 fiscal year to include the Wings Over Wayne Air Show and 75th Anniversary celebrations, as well as conducting relief efforts for Hurricane Matthew.

Even with all of the year’s events, the 4th FW successfully met and exceeded the allotted sorties and flying hours organized through the flying hour program through strong planning and execution.

“The flying hour program is a plan put forth at the beginning of the fiscal year,” said Tech. Sgt. Luen Compton, 4th Maintenance Group Staff NCO in charge of maintenance management analysis. “It is coordinated between maintenance and operations.”

Each week various departments on base meet to establish a plan for the following week.

“We have solid maintenance practices and solid maintenance planning,” said Staff Sgt. Jacaree Dezurn, 4th Maintenance Group Staff NCOIC of deficiency analysis. “You have everyone from the Aircraft Maintenance Unit analyst up to the commander sitting down planning for the next week’s flying.”

The meeting includes looking at the following week’s weather predications and F-15E maintenance concerns.

 “You plan for a certain amount of deviations to occur or a certain amount of weather things to happen,” Compton said, adding there were far fewer deviations than anticipated that in turn allowed for the 4th FW to meet and exceed the planned amount of both sorties and flying hours.

The 4th FW even obtained additional flying hours from Air Combat Command and exceeded those hours as well.

“We got 400 hours, which equates to about 235 sorties,” Compton said. “That happened because we were so far ahead of our sorties.”

The accomplishments achieved by Team Seymour led the wing’s leadership to award the wing with a total of three goal days, or down days, for the fiscal year.

“It’s a culmination of all the hard work,” said Capt. Matthew Kamp, 335th Fighter Squadron assistant to the director of weapons. “[It’s] a nice three-day weekend to enjoy with your family, because we are away from home for quite a bit during the week and on the weekends.”

This was something Airmen felt grateful for.

“It feels rewarding,” said Senior Airman Rashan Moore, 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron weapons load crew member. “I’m glad the leadership looks upon us and likes to do that for us.”