Angel Gaitan shows the complex work of the mechanics of the Spanish EF-18 fighters

There are YouTubers who do a great job of disseminating information with their channels, also publicizing the work of the Armed Forces.

The visit of the popular youtuber Ángel Gaitán to the Albacete Air Base and Maestranza
A video shows the process of removing an engine from a Spanish EF-18M Hornet fighter

One of those YouTubers is the Spanish Ángel Gaitán, whose channel (specialized in the world of automobiles) has more than half a million subscribers. Ángel combines his work in the GT Automoción workshop in Aranjuez with this informative work. In May we already saw his visit to the Albacete Air Base and Air Maestranza on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. This week, Ángel has published a very interesting video about the work of the EF-18 fighter plane mechanics of the Ala 12 (12th Wing) at the Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base in Madrid. You can watch it here (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

This video focuses on the work of the engineers and mechanics in charge of the maintenance of the two General Electric F404-GE-400 engines that each of these aircraft carries, a difficult task due to the complexity of these turbofan engines and also because of their age, since these aircraft arrived in Spain decades ago. In May we saw here how one of these engines is extracted.

In one of the most interesting parts of this video we see Ángel attending a ground test of the afterburning of these engines, a deafening experience in which the YouTuber could not only notice the brutal noise generated by the engine at its maximum power, but also the pressure wave generated by the jet from the reactor.

The second part of the video shows us the complex work of engine maintenance, with its different parts. In this part of the video, it is worth highlighting and appreciating the attention and detail with which the personnel of Ala 12 have explained their work and the different components of the engine. We see people who enjoy their work, something that is always appreciated and that explains why these planes are the longest-lived fighters that Spain has used and, nevertheless, are in as good condition as the day they were launched.

Congratulations to Ángel Gaitán and the staff of Ala 12 for this excellent video, which shows us little-known work by our air force but which is very important, because thanks to it these planes continue to fly in optimal conditions to fulfill their mission of defending Spanish airspace against any threat.