OH-58 Kiowa Warrior mechanics take part in keeping Jalalabad Airfield safe

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Houston | Sgt. Eric Brady, a native of Austin, Texas, who serves as an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior maintenance manager and mechanic with Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, greases a joint on a Kiowa on Jalalabad Airfield, Afghanistan, Nov. 16, 2014.  

JALALABAD AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN

11.18.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Whitney Houston 

U.S. Forces Afghanistan

JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Chinooks, Apaches and Black Hawk helicopters whipped up and down the runway on Jalalabad Airfield, Afghanistan, providing a makeshift breeze for the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter mechanics who spend their days baking on the flight line while maintaining and repairing the Kiowa airframe.

The mechanics serve with 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, in a unique cyclic environment where maintaining an airframe time and time again never loses its importance. Monotony is replaced with understanding of their mission and taking care of their pilot brothers-in-arms.

“Nowhere else in the Army are you around so many warrant officers [pilots] as in Army aviation, and we as maintenance guys have a really tight bond with them,” said Sgt. 1st Class Daren Stewart, a Montpelier, Idaho, native who serves as platoon sergeant for 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd CAB. “They have to trust 100 percent that what we’re doing is keeping their life safe. We turn the wrenches so they can do what they do, and my mechanics know that and take it to heart.”

Stewart explained he has 11 Soldiers on three maintenance teams that take charge of five Kiowa aircraft, which at any given time are flying over eastern Afghanistan. His Soldiers work 12-hour shifts, six days a week doing preventative maintenance services every 20 flight hours the aircraft flies.

“On top of preventative maintenance we also have progressive phase maintenance that consist of 15 PPMs spread out over 40 flight-hour increments,” Stewart said. “We have a rolling 40-hour window to complete the maintenance for each PPM, and each PPM focuses on a different part of the aircraft. After the entire 15 are complete, the Kiowas will have gone through 600 flight hours and then the process starts over.”

Sgt. Eric Brady, a native of Austin, Texas, who serves as an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior maintenance team manager and mechanic, explained the difficult task mechanics face of balancing time and efficiency in their maintenance, while simultaneously meeting the demanding flight-mission requirement of the Kiowa pilots.

“Time is probably the biggest challenge that we meet on a daily basis. We have windows that are an hour to two hours long, tops, to maintain the airframe before it’s up and flying again,” Brady said.

“You’ve got to be able to pace yourself and use the old Army mantra of ‘slow is steady, and steady is fast,’ because you can’t rush maintenance. You have to be efficient and ensure you don’t skip steps and put somebody’s life in danger.”

Brady said Kiowa pilots also play a role in the aircraft’s maintenance by bringing important feedback from the field so they can hone in on specific problems the aircraft may be having.

“The work these guys do is amazing; I have 100 percent trust in these guys. We bring them things that need fixing, sure, but while I’m flying it never crosses my mind whether or not the mechanics have done their job because I know that they’re good at what they do,” said Kiowa pilot 1st Lt. Nicholas Hash, a native of Preston, Missouri, who serves with the 1-17 Cav. “We’re not capable of doing our job without them. Everything that we accomplish is because of them.”

Serving in a cavalry unit, the mechanics take a lot of pride in their portion of the cavalry scout mission their airframe provides. They realize that although they don’t see firsthand the results of the reconnaissance pilots provide for troops on the ground, they understand pilots can’t complete their mission without their expertise.

“I think that every one of us is proud to be in the air cavalry and to run the mission that we run. This airframe is unique in that no one can get in as low or as slow as this airframe can,” Brady said. “It’s always gratifying to hear from the pilots that our platform is performing well on the battlefield.”

• Date Taken: 11.18.2014
• Date Posted: 11.18.2014 05:15
• Story ID: 148114
• Location: JALALABAD AIRFIELD, AF
• Hometown: AUSTIN, TX, US
• Hometown: FAYETTEVILLE, NC, US
• Hometown: FORT LIBERTY, NC, US
• Hometown: MONTPELIER, ID, US
• Hometown: PRESTON, MO, US