ASC environmental team wins award for ozone protection

  • Published
  • By Chuck Muston
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The Aeronautical Systems Center Environmental Pollution Prevention team has been selected as the 2007 Best-of-the-Best Stratospheric Ozone Protection Team Award winner. 

The award was presented to Ted Grady, chief of ASC's Pollution Prevention Branch, at the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer awards ceremony held in Montreal, Canada, in September. 

In 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency established the Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards to recognize exceptional leadership, personal dedication and technical achievements in protecting the earth's stratospheric ozone layer by eliminating Ozone Depleting Substances or protecting the public from effects of increased ultraviolet radiation. 

As part of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy Aircraft Fire Protection Team, ASC and the Air Force Research Laboratory received the award for teamwork and excellence in creating halon alternatives. 

Halons are low-toxicity, chemically stable compounds that have been used for fire and explosion protection throughout this century. The team's combined efforts will eliminate 43,000 pounds of halon in current and future fire protection systems. 

According to EPA officials, AFRL and ASC investigators and engineers were major contributors that lead to the Air Force receiving this award. Their focus on the dry bay and engine fire suppression work that was integrated into aircraft was a huge contribution.
The EPA wanted to recognize the fact that the Air Force and the Navy are flying the first aircraft, in modern times, with non-halon fire suppression systems. 

Over the last 20 years, the Air Force has provided outstanding leadership in stratospheric ozone protection, say EPA officials. At the September 1987 meeting of the signing of the Montreal Protocol, Air Force experts provided a technical display of techniques for reducing halon emissions. 

As part of its worldwide leadership role, the Air Force provided the first co-chair of the United Nations Technology and Economic Assessment Panel Halon Technical Options Committee and led early efforts by the U.S. government and industry to identify alternatives for aviation halon applications. 

During the 1990s, the service spent more than $500 million in re-engineering processes, systems and equipment at installations worldwide to eliminate more than 96 percent of its original annual ODS usage. For the fraction of mission-critical halon applications that remain in use, the Air Force employed a banking approach that kept its purchases of new production ODS's to an absolute minimum. 

The Air Force recovered halons from its decommissioned facility fire suppression systems and extinguishers to provide more than 80 percent of its wartime and peacetime requirements. Because of its successful ODS elimination efforts, the Air Force has been able to remain within its original 1994 bank without requiring any additional ODS purchases. The service continues to work to achieve its ultimate goal of complete ODS elimination. 

"Many people were involved in this whole process" said Grady, especially Mike Bennett, president of Bennettech LLC, Nashville, Tenn., and Tim Eakin, director of engineering in ASC's 312th Aeronautical Systems Group, which manages the F-16 program. "They were the linchpin to making this happen, especially their participation in the halon process."