‘This is depot work – this is what this base was meant to do’

Dennis E. Pickett, 561st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron aircraft structural repair technician, installs fasteners into the newly replaced 626 bulkhead of an F-15C. During programmed depot maintenance, a crack was discovered in the original bulkhead leaving the organization with the option to replace the part or scrap the entire aircraft. The aircraft was placed into an unscheduled depot level maintenance gate where the bulkhead was replaced with another located through the Defense Logistics Agency supply chain. The entire process from aircraft disassembly to new bulkhead installation took the core team seven weeks to complete. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tommie Horton)