Liberty Wing prepares for LCAP

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Dana J. Butler
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  

Airmen from the 48th Maintenance Group and 48th Logistics Readiness Squadron are preparing for an upcoming Logistics Compliance Assessment Program inspection Aug. 5 to 9.

The LCAP provides leadership with an evaluation of a unit's ability to perform key logistics processes in a safe, standardized, repeatable and technically-compliant manner.

"The LCAP inspection is a higher headquarters check aimed at ensuring that the 48th Fighter Wing is accomplishing our logistics missions of aircraft maintenance and logistics readiness in a safe and efficient manner that is in accordance with written technical data, Air Force instructions and directives," said Capt. Timothy Aanerud, 48th MXG LCAP lead.

The LCAP inspection team is made up of 25 inspectors from Air Combat Command Headquarters, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., as well as other augmentee inspectors from various bases in U.S. Air Forces in Europe, according to Aanerud.

According to Aanerud, the inspection team is comprised of members that represent a wide variety of maintenance and logistics Air Force specialties and have a great wealth of experience.

"The LCAP team is basically inspectors who inspect our inspectors," said Senior Airman Roland Goncalves, 494th Aircraft Maintenance Unit assistant dedicated crew chief. "They will come into each individual unit and look at our programs, they will walk our flightine, our protective aircraft shelters and make sure that they are clean and that our housekeeping is up to par."

The five-day inspection focuses on checklist compliance, quality verification inspections and personnel evaluations within different units.

"The LCAP is very important because it gives an idea on how we stand as a maintenance unit and it gives us the right to call ourselves the best, assuming we earn it," said Goncalves.

The inspection is based on a graded assessment with percentage scores and uses the five-tier rating scale: outstanding, excellent, satisfactory, marginal and unsatisfactory.

"We get graded on how we perform tasks and personal evaluations seeing that we follow the book step-by-step and get the mission done safely and as time-efficient as possible," said Goncalves. "The only difference between having an LCAP pending and normal operations is there are more eyes on us, but other than that our job doesn't really change; we do it right, by the book and safely every time."

According to Aanerud, there has been a considerable step up in the inspection cycle with the notification of the LCAP occurring around 45 days ago.

"Each squadron in the 48th MXG as well as the 48th LRS has been preparing for six months or more through the use of push weeks, internal and external Staff Assistance Visits and in-depth self-inspections," said Aanerud.

Additionally, members from RAF Mildenhall helped inspect processes and programs to prepare for the LCAP.

"The 100th LRS from RAF Mildenhall generously provided a 25-member Staff Assistance Visit team to evaluate our squadron," said Master Sgt. John Lineaweaver, 48th LRS quality assurance superintendent. "This preparation enabled everyone to look a little deeper at their internal processes to ensure all regulatory guidelines are being met."

According to Aanerud, Liberty Airmen have been working hard to prepare.

"The Liberty Wing has proven time and again that we can rise to any challenge and the LCAP is no exception," said Aanerud. "I'm confident that our team will display why we are the Air Force's number one choice for combat capability."