Air Force crews work behind the scenes

Families, food and flying hit the runways of Rosecrans Memorial Airport this weekend. But before planes show their talents, crew members work hard to keep the planes safe and ready for flight. Before these planes hit the air, the planning has to start somewhere. "A team chief that helps coordinate all of our arrival stuff and that happens weeks out so it`s several weeks in the making," Air Force Captain Jeff Yost says. Jeff Yost is captain of the Air Force in the A-10 East Coast Demo Crew. He, along with five other crew members, work together to make this plane fly smoothly, but the work isn`t easy. "It`s a very old airplane inside so, we don`t have any of the new fancy type equipment so we`re running off of steam gauges and everything else in there," Safety Observer Mike Colom says. Each crew member does their own part before Yost can even sit in the driver`s seat. "I will maintain the hydrolics and the landing gear and stuff like that," Senior Airman Mike Abernathy says. "The safety aspects, the training, the scheduling," Colom says. And when it`s finally time for the pilot to take off, the rest of the crew takes the downtime to enjoy their favorite part. "Meeting all of the people. You get out there and there`s a lot of people with a lot of questions and a lot of times we can clarify things for them or help answer things they wanted to know," Colom says. "Talk to the people and answer questions about the aircraft," Abernathy says. No matter how much work they`ve done or how much fun they`re having, crew members say they always remember their number one duty. "Providing ground support for our troops, Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, whoever may be on the ground," Abernathy says. "We`re right there with the troops. I`ve been one of the guys on the ground with a rifle and a radio and I`ve seen A-10`s come and save me," Colom says. the crew comes to st. joe from north carolina. Captain Yost says his team performs in about 35 airshows every year.