SCANG ACA shines during AFOA Published Oct. 22, 2012 By Tech. Sgt. Stephen Hudson 169th FW/PA MCENTIRE JOINT NATIONAL GUARD BASE, South Carolina -- Another inspection down makes another inspection aced by the SCANG during the 1st Air Force evaluation of the Aerospace Alert Control. The Alert Forces Operational Assessment ran from Sept. 25-27, and while on base the team of eight inspectors looked at maintenance, operations, command post, and security forces. In an e-mail, Aerospace Control Alert Commander Lt. Col. Keith Miller, said throughout their visit the team was impressed with the unit's attitude, professionalism, and courtesy. "They were also very impressed in the progress made between their initial visit in May of last year and what they saw this week," Miller said. "We're well on the way to being one of the premier ACA units in a short time." The AFOA consisted of a no-notice scramble to intercept two target aircraft simulating two situations that might require alert fighter assistance. The first target was a USAF C-21 Learjet simulating a business jet with an onboard oxygen system failure and an unresponsive aircrew enroute to Atlanta from Orlando. The second aircraft was a Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182 simulating an inexperienced and lost student pilot whose instructor suffered a heart attack while enroute to Marion County Airport. Both aircraft where intercepted by McEntire alert F-16s and the situations were resolved using close coordination between air traffic control, the Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome, N.Y. and the McEntire fighter aircraft. During that time the inspectors looked at maintenance and command post. Senior Master Sgt. Barry Boyle said there were five events reviewed in maintenance. The support section/programs performed extremely well with eight out of 10 areas with no discrepancies. Launching aircraft had no discrepancies - the second time that has happened during an inspection. Eight of 12 programs had zero discrepancies including the big three of tool control, tech data, and training. The weapons download, reliability checks, and upload all went extremely well. Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Witchek, Command Post superintendent, said command post was thoroughly looked at with no findings. The AFOA is a preparatory inspection prior to the NORAD evaluation, meaning the window is now open for a "no-notice" inspection known as Fighter Alert Force Evaluation.