IN FOCUS: Senior Airman Curtis Andrist Published Oct. 19, 2010 By Staff Sgt. Alan Schultz 419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Public affairs recently met with Senior Airman Curtis Andrist from the 419th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as part a series highlighting wing Airmen. Airman Andrist is an integrated avionics specialist on the F-16 Fighting Falcon. What do you do as an integrated avionics specialist? I maintain and repair just about every advanced electrical system on the aircraft including communications, radar, targeting systems, weapons systems and instrumentation. What do you enjoy most about your job? Getting deep into fault isolation and being able to locate the exact problem. I also enjoy seeing a faulty system fully functional again. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. What brought you to the Air Force Reserve? I want to be a pilot. I'm here maintaining aircraft for now, seeking a pilot slot so I can fly with the Air Force. Do you have a degree or are you working on one? Yes, I'm going to school for aviation science, professional aeronautics and aviation administration. I'm also working on an associate degree in aviation maintenance. After tech school, your seasoning training was terminated early when you volunteered to go to Afghanistan. How did it work out for you? It was interesting. I deployed for five months in January 2010. Being deployed provided me with an opportunity to really work on the jets. Here we do a lot of training, but repairs were much faster paced in Afghanistan. I learned a lot more there than I expected. I'm actually trying to go back. What was your workload like over there? I worked 12-hour days. There was enough work to keep you busy, but I didn't feel overloaded. What is one interesting thing about you that most people might not know? Most people do not know that I hold a test driver's license for BMW and have driven and tested prototype cars before they were available on the market.