Maintaining planes, educating students about science, technology, engineering and mathematics

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Stan Paregien
  • 932nd Airlift Wing
As part of a community outreach event, the 932nd Airlift Wing Maintenance Group's top officer and commander, Col. Sharon Johnson, talks about the C-40 plane, the Air Force Reserve and the 932nd Airlift Wing, to a group of eighth grade Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students. The students visited December 10, 2018, at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Johnson's group of Airmen maintain four of the C-40 aircraft belonging to the 932nd AW and operated by the 932nd Operations Group and updated by the 932nd Maintenance Group. She and the public affairs officer escorted local Mascoutah students out to their hangar work center, to see more about how an airplane engine, wheels, tires, hydraulics, and wings work together and get a plane off the ground. Johnson and her maintainers manned informational stations as multiple groups of students rotated through various areas every 45 minutes at the reserve unit, located in southern Illinois near Belleville. (U.S. Air Force photo by Lt. Col. Stan Paregien)