Rainy days welcome, but no break for aviators

Photo By Rick Emert | Sgt. Konata Springer, (left), and Spc. J. Allen perform maintenance on an AH-64D Apache Jan. 13 at Camp Taji, Iraq. Springer, a native of Baltimore and Allen, who hails from Pardeeville, Wis., are both from Company B, 615th Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. Maintenance crews and pilots take advantage of rainy days to catch up on maintenance and to conduct refresher training.  

TAJI, IRAQ

01.16.2007

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Rick Emert 

1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

By Sgt. 1st Class Rick Emert
1st ACB, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs

TAJI, Iraq – When it rains, the work pours in for the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Air Cavalry Brigade.

Bad weather may ground the brigade's flights around Baghdad, but the work pace doesn't skip a beat as pilots, crews and mechanics catch up on training and maintenance that is vital to the endurance of the aircraft and, thus, the success of the missions.

The Department of the Army requirement is that 80 percent of the brigade's aircraft are fully-mission capable at any given time, said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Donald Washabaugh, a brigade aviation maintenance officer.

"We measure readiness of the aircraft in terms of hours, not days," said Washabaugh, a native of Collingswood, N.J. "When we have a break in flying (due to weather), we grab hold of that opportunity to work on inspections and maintenance; that increases readiness."

"When there is a weather day, and the aircraft all come down, it gives us a chance to focus on the fleet," said Priest River, Idaho, native Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Kingery, noncommissioned officer in charge of the brigade's aviation maintenance office. "We're busier when it rains. The Soldiers are a little more miserable because they're working in standing water, but they are getting necessary work done to the aircraft."

Because of operational tempo that requires many hours in the air, the aircraft may develop small problems that don't necessarily decrease effectiveness, but can develop into larger problems.

"Think about it like a car," Washabaugh said. "If you are planning a trip, of course you want to make the sure the car is running OK before you depart. If little things break during the trip, like a radio knob, you don't want to pull over and fix it on the road. You wait until the trip is complete and fix it then. For us, when it rains, these nagging problems with the aircraft can get worked on."

However, since the crews are in the air as much as the aircraft, they can get to the problems that could ground an aircraft for major repairs, but can't really get to those smaller repairs.

"The crews are responsible for maintenance, and if they're always engaged in flights, then they don't have time for their maintenance," Kingery said. "When they can't fly because of weather, they can get to the maintenance issues that have been building up. It's maybe not the same as when they are up in the air; it's less stressful, but they still get a sense of accomplishment, because they are getting vital work done."

Washabaugh gives all the credit to those maintenance crews.

"Those kids are the backbone of aviation," Washabaugh said. "If they don't function, then none of this works. They are the ones providing combat power; they make sure this brigade flies. We try to convey that to them – how they fit in and how important they are. The fact that they have more time when the aircraft aren't flying to focus on maintenance really prevents this from being a big problem later on."

Meanwhile, the pilots use weather down days to both catch up on training and eliminate fatigue, which can be as detrimental to a mission as a poorly maintained aircraft.

"There may be changes in procedures that affect the pilots, and when the aircraft can't fly because of weather, the pilots get a chance to refresh their knowledge of those changes," Washabaugh said.

Although the pilots are still working when aircraft are grounded by weather, that work lacks the stress of a combat mission and helps to alleviate fatigue.

"(A down day) doesn't reset the pilots, but it takes the fatigue level out of the overall equation. It is a day with no cockpit stress," Washabaugh said.

There may be no whir of propellers in the skies when the weather is bad, but – on the ground at Camp Taji – the airfield and the pilots' crew areas are bustling with activity as crews and pilots maintain their readiness and their aircraft and prepare for the moment the clouds break.

• Date Taken: 01.16.2007
• Date Posted: 01.16.2007 08:34
• Story ID: 8811
• Location: TAJI, IQ