JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
The C-5 community is in the midst of a comprehensive campaign to address one of its most significant challenges: aircraft availability. Key stakeholders gathered at the 433rd Airlift Wing on Jan. 14-15 to discuss the state of the campaign and next steps.
“Drive to 55” is spearheaded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center but draws from the expertise and experience of members across the C-5 community. Evelyn Ryberg, the AFLCMC C-5 product support manager, played a key role in designing and launching the initiative.
"After about a year and a half of being on the job, one of the things I saw is that we really have to get after aircraft availability,” Ryberg said. “We are not meeting our aircraft standard, so we have to look at how we can improve."
The campaign started more than a year ago and focuses on several key areas: supply chain management, data integrity, maintenance performance, reliability, and maintainability. The goal is to increase aircraft availability from its current level, which is in the high 30s, to 55%, with an ultimate goal of reaching the required 68% availability rate.
Ryberg expressed confidence the 55% target is achievable.
"We've seen some improvements already,” Ryberg noted. “We’re not where we want to be yet, and there are some things that may take longer than I initially projected but based on the data … we should be able to get there."
Ryberg made a point of highlighting the collaborative nature of the "Drive to 55."
"It's not me, it's not just the program office,” Ryberg said. “It's everybody being part of a team, communicating, ensuring we are very focused and intentional in our communication."
As part of the campaign, Ryberg and her teammates are conducting a series of events at each of the C-5 wings to update the field on the campaign's progress and gather input from members in the field. The events are held at different locations to help increase the number of people who can participate and provide input. The JBSA-Lackland event at the 433rd AW is the third one thus far.
Lt. Col. Brandon Rodts, 433rd Maintenance Group deputy commander, said the Alamo Wing was happy to host the first “Drive to 55” event of 2025.
“These events allow for direct engagement between the units in the field and every single office or agency that supports the C-5 enterprise,” Rodts said. “It gives them an opportunity to address what’s being done to tackle critical challenges or issues.
Rodts pointed out the cross-tell between the C-5 maintenance units is another key aspect of these events.
“What works for us here at Lackland might also work well at Travis (Air Force Base, Calif.) or vice versa,” Rodts noted. “Increasing our aircraft availability (AA) is extremely important for our dual mission wing. Supporting the 356th Airlift Squadron and the C-5 Formal Training Unit is a challenge, plus we have all the operational requirements that the 68th AS has, so increasing AA is extremely important to us.”
According to Ryberg, the "Drive to 55" campaign is serving as a model for other Air Force platforms, with several other programs already emulating the approach. For the Alamo Wing, the campaign aligns perfectly with both strategic imperatives put forth by Air Force Reserve Command leadership: “Ready Now” and “Transforming for the Future.”