Wing flight engineer surpasses career milestone

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. David D. Morton
  • 302nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  Senior Master Sgt. David Carey knows his way around the C-130 aircraft almost to the point of identifying where just about every nut and bolt is located. That kind of knowledge comes from serving with the same Air Force Reserve airlift unit and becoming the longest-tenured flyer at Peterson with more than 25 years of experience in the "Herc."

"Somebody in (Air Force) Space Command on Peterson may have as many flying hours as I do," said Sergeant Carey, "but they haven't been flying continuously as far as months and years like I have for the time they've been stationed here. It has nothing to do with flying hours."

Sergeant Carey, a flight engineer with the 731st Airlift Squadron, has amassed more than 9,000 hours of flying time during his career.

That achievement might not have ever happened had Sergeant Carey gotten the original job he applied for as an aircraft crew chief with the squadron maintenance section of the 901st Tactical Airlift Group upon entering the Air Force Reserve in July 1984.

While working at the Broadmoor International Center for two years after completion of an Active Duty tour at Minot AFB, N.D., Sergeant Carey could remember how he would look down from the side of Cheyenne Mountain to the flightline where the AF Reserve unit's C-130 aircraft were parked.

"I could see it from where I worked everyday," Sergeant Carey recalled. "I answered an ad in the paper from Staff Sgt. Jeff Grezecka and applied as a crew chief for the maintenance section."

Sergeant Grezecka was a former member of the 302nd Airlift Wing and an AF Reserve recruiter.

"I had been a former crew chief on B-52s during my Active Duty stint," Sergeant Carey said. "The funny thing is they turned me down because the unit was full. Sergeant Grezecka asked if I had ever thought of being a flight engineer. B-52s are twice as large and there are no flight engineers. Why would the C-130 have one? But that's how I became a flight engineer. There were no slots for crew chiefs in maintenance at the time and only eight airplanes in the 901st TAG."

Sergeant Carey would soon realize becoming a flight engineer on a C-130 Hercules aircraft has some distinct advantages. "There are a lot of things that make this job good," he said. "It's in a good location where my family has lived through five generations. I can't believe they pay me to do this, and I get to travel which is a huge benefit."

I've been everywhere except the South Pole and Australia, and have supported the Distant Early Warning System in 1986-87 in Greenland for my North Pole experience. I've been on every Operational Readiness Exercise, Operation Readiness Inspection, and Aircrew Standardization and Evaluation Validation inspection in the history of the 901st TAG or the 302nd Airlift Wing. I've stopped counting 'Coronet Oak' rotations after the 28th trip. I think back a lot, and I've seen so many good people come and go in this wing."

Coronet Oak is a U.S. Southern Command operation focusing on several objectives, including the resupply of U.S. embassies, medical evacuation missions and support for U.S. troops in the region. Typically, missions are flown from Muniz Air National Guard Base in Puerto Rico.

Of course, there are those in the squadron who look to Sergeant Carey as a leader among flight engineers; however, some also think the 25 year-plus operator could learn a thing or two.

"Our less experienced engineers look to Dave for his guidance and vast C-130 systems knowledge," said Senior Master Sgt. Thomas E. Farley, 731st AS chief flight engineer. "However, he could use some help in the celebrity recognition department. In an Aspen Air Show in 1992, Dave was working the flight deck and told Kurt Russell that he'd have to wait his turn to come up to the flight deck until Goldie Hawn, whom he recognized as a celebrity, was finished with the tour of the C-130. Mr. Russell was very gracious and waited his turn."

Air shows were just a very small portion of Sergeant Carey's career. He's also supported Desert Storm/Shield, Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, Northern Watch in Saudi Arabia and completed a tour in the Republic of Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. He became the first flight engineer qualified in Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems in 1991, and has been involved with 731st Airlift Squadron MAFFS deployments in support of wildland fires across the Western U.S.

"Dave's experience has served the squadron well," said Lt. Col. Courtney Arnold, 731st AS commander. "All those hours coupled with his personality and professionalism makes him a perfect choice to crew any of our toughest missions. There's not any part of the airplane, squadron, or the wing that he doesn't know."

It all adds up to the nuts and bolts of a long tenured flying career.

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