Operation external lift-up

Photo By Sgt. Rebecca Eller | Marines from Helicopter Support Team, Combat Logistics Battalion 5, from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton hook a concrete block to a hovering CH-53E during a training exercise 20 miles east of El Centro, Calif., Jan. 11. HST partnered with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to practice external cargo lifts.  

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, CA, UNITED STATES

01.11.2012

Story by Lance Cpl. Rebecca Eller 

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar

MIRAMAR, Calif. - Lifting 20,000 pounds is no easy task, especially when Marines need equipment fast. Ensuring the process to deliver that equipment goes smoothly requires hours of training.

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, partnered with Marines with Helicopter Support Team, Combat Logistics Battalion 5 from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to practice external cargo lifts Jan. 11.

HMH-465 and HST conducted nearly a dozen lifts between two CH-53E helicopters, lifting concrete blocks used for training purposes at a site located 20 miles east of El Centro, Calif.

During externals training, HST Marines must brave high winds and rotor wash to connect large concrete blocks using dual-point or single-point hook external systems. These systems are large hooks that hang out of the “hell hole” located under the CH-53E.

“The primary mission of the 53 is heavy lifting for the Marine Corps,” said Capt. Justin Amthor, a Weapons and Tactics instructor with HMH-465 and a Cadillac, Mich., native. “We complete that heavy lift by conducting externals.”

HMH-465 Marines train with cement blocks, but actual mission flights range from water bowls to Humvees or generators.

Conducting training is important because if something were to go wrong, the crew chief and pilots learn to overcome obstacles, said Cpl. Adam Mintz, a crew chief with HMH-465 and a Lexington, S.C., native.

Crew chiefs are responsible for the integrity of the aircraft, and make sure everything for the flight is ready to go. Crew chiefs take care of the area from the cock pit back, including the tail gun, loading and unloading of cargo and calling externals, said Mintz.

Pilots can only see in front of them, making communication between the pilots and their crew chief essential to complete the mission.

"Crew chiefs are our eyes in the back,” said Capt. Matthew Bauman, a 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing aviation safety officer with HMH-465. “They talk us over the load, tell us what they want and tell us which way to move the aircraft to keep everybody safe."

Other than heavy lifting capabilities, another benefit of external lifts is getting out of the drop zone fast.

"Internal cargo you have to land and manually offload it,” said Amthor. “With externals, we just come in, drop it off and depart the area within a couple of minutes."

Staying up to date on training is a main reason externals are performed in garrison. This particular training was to train new Marines with HMH-465 on external procedures.

"We're constantly getting new people, and we need everybody to have that high level of proficiency,” said Mintz. “So when that time comes and we have to do it for real, we're ready to go."

In the past four months HMH-465 has returned from three deployments. Even though they are not scheduled to deploy soon, HMH-465 constantly trains to stay ready.

• Date Taken: 01.11.2012
• Date Posted: 01.12.2012 19:56
• Story ID: 82341
• Location: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, CA, US