U.S. Marine Corps has begun complete overhaul of its CH-53E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopters to significantly increase the number of o...
U.S. Marine Corps has begun complete overhaul of its CH-53E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopters to significantly increase the number of operationally fit aircraft as the platform’s readiness had dipped to unsustainable levels in the recent years.
The issue first came to light following the January 2014 crash of an MH-53E Sea Dragon-the Navy’s version of the aircraft-off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, during a routine training exercise.
Three of the five Sailors onboard were killed. The subsequent investigation determined that electrical wires inside the aircraft had chafed against and breached a fuel line, sparking a fire that flooded the cabin and cockpit with thick smoke.
The crash prompted an inspection of all CH/MH-53s for signs of chaffing between cabin fuel tubes and electrical wiring.
Investigation revealed that both variants were in poor state as they are some 30+ years old, and in that 15 years were flown in combat theatre.
“What was discovered was that the material condition of the aircraft, both the CH-53E and the MH-53E, was degraded,” said Col. Hank Vanderborght, program manager for the H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopters Program Office (PMA-261) at Naval Air Systems Command.
Problems found included material condition of the aircraft, supply system agility, and issues with maintenance publications, support equipment and training along with a lot of different issues that compounded the problem.
In response to the findings, a two-step strategy was devised to improve readiness of the fleet, the first step being a complete “reset” of all 147 aircraft, a process expected to take three years. During which every airframe will be put through an on-average 110-day process of stripping the aircraft down completely, rebuilding it and changing out any high-time components.
The reset validation aircraft was completed in April at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, and flew back to the West Coast in June. The next five CH-53Es have begun the process—three at New River and two at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California.
Maintenance crews had already replaced fuel lines and redone the wire bundles in most of the Super Stallions as a direct response to the January 2014 crash, increasing the current percentage of ready CH-53Es to about 30 percent, an increase from last year when only about 20 percent of the aircraft were ready to fly, The second step involves addressing those remaining “systemic” issues, a preventative step meant to ensure another reset is not needed in the future.
Vanderborght stressed that one aspect that will require particular attention is the training of CH-53E maintainers, most of whom have spent their entire careers in the Marines during a time when the focus has been on quickly turning out aircraft rather than taking the time to digest and learn the systems they’re working on.
“We’ve been at war [on terrorism] since 2001, so many of today’s senior maintainers in the Marine Corps joined when our modus operandi has been to make mission at all times. They’ve been taught to maintain airplanes by fixing what’s broken and get it back to the mission,” Vanderborght said.
“Before 2001, maintainers would troubleshoot the system and take a long time to understand it, so there was a lot of knowledge developed by on-the-job-training. We’ve kind of lost all that knowledge. I would say the Marines today—not to their fault—are not as knowledgeable about the aircraft as they were prior to the war, Vanderborght said.
Source: NAVAIR
The issue first came to light following the January 2014 crash of an MH-53E Sea Dragon-the Navy’s version of the aircraft-off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, during a routine training exercise.
Three of the five Sailors onboard were killed. The subsequent investigation determined that electrical wires inside the aircraft had chafed against and breached a fuel line, sparking a fire that flooded the cabin and cockpit with thick smoke.
The crash prompted an inspection of all CH/MH-53s for signs of chaffing between cabin fuel tubes and electrical wiring.
Investigation revealed that both variants were in poor state as they are some 30+ years old, and in that 15 years were flown in combat theatre.
“What was discovered was that the material condition of the aircraft, both the CH-53E and the MH-53E, was degraded,” said Col. Hank Vanderborght, program manager for the H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopters Program Office (PMA-261) at Naval Air Systems Command.
Problems found included material condition of the aircraft, supply system agility, and issues with maintenance publications, support equipment and training along with a lot of different issues that compounded the problem.
In response to the findings, a two-step strategy was devised to improve readiness of the fleet, the first step being a complete “reset” of all 147 aircraft, a process expected to take three years. During which every airframe will be put through an on-average 110-day process of stripping the aircraft down completely, rebuilding it and changing out any high-time components.
The reset validation aircraft was completed in April at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, and flew back to the West Coast in June. The next five CH-53Es have begun the process—three at New River and two at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California.
Maintenance crews had already replaced fuel lines and redone the wire bundles in most of the Super Stallions as a direct response to the January 2014 crash, increasing the current percentage of ready CH-53Es to about 30 percent, an increase from last year when only about 20 percent of the aircraft were ready to fly, The second step involves addressing those remaining “systemic” issues, a preventative step meant to ensure another reset is not needed in the future.
Vanderborght stressed that one aspect that will require particular attention is the training of CH-53E maintainers, most of whom have spent their entire careers in the Marines during a time when the focus has been on quickly turning out aircraft rather than taking the time to digest and learn the systems they’re working on.
“We’ve been at war [on terrorism] since 2001, so many of today’s senior maintainers in the Marine Corps joined when our modus operandi has been to make mission at all times. They’ve been taught to maintain airplanes by fixing what’s broken and get it back to the mission,” Vanderborght said.
“Before 2001, maintainers would troubleshoot the system and take a long time to understand it, so there was a lot of knowledge developed by on-the-job-training. We’ve kind of lost all that knowledge. I would say the Marines today—not to their fault—are not as knowledgeable about the aircraft as they were prior to the war, Vanderborght said.
Source: NAVAIR
