1st CAB stays mission ready, combats COVID-19

FORT RILEY, KS, UNITED STATES

05.08.2020

Story by Pfc. Jared Simmons 

19th Public Affairs Detachment

FORT RILEY, Kan.-- Soldiers from the 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, work to ensure the U.S. Army’s aircraft and aviators maintain mission essential readiness in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To ensure flight safety and crew proficiency, aircraft in the 1st CAB require regular maintenance based on flight hours, including what is known as overhaul maintenance.
“That is what we do,” said Maj. Anthony Booher, the commander of B Company, 601st Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade. “Once they reach that hour mark, they come to our hangar.”
The 601st ASB’s B Company is the primary large-scale maintenance company for the 1st CAB. They conduct major maintenance on all airframes present on Marshall Army Airfield.
While in the maintenance hangar, the aircraft are torn down to the frame and given critical inspections to ensure they are still air-worthy, and then rebuilt and returned to their units.
Booher said the aircraft go back out to the force with a fresh inspection timeline, averaging anywhere between four-hundred to five-hundred hours of flight time before the next large-scale inspection.
Although 1st CAB is continuing to ensure their Soldiers and equipment remain mission-ready, they haven’t lost sight of the importance of combating the COVID-19 pandemic either. Units within the CAB are ensuring they are taking necessary precautions in line with the commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division’s guidance to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Our unit is preserving mission-essential readiness by ensuring all Soldiers are wearing proper PPE for protection against COVID as well as maintaining six-foot seperation while working on aircraft,” said Sgt. Jimmy Sosa, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter repairer with the 3-1 Assault Helicopter Battalion.
3-1 AHB, much like the 601st ASB, also continue to perform both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
“We have aircraft we have to maintain,” said 1st Lt. Amy Rice, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot with 3-1 AHB. “If we’re called upon for a deployment or any kind of NTC rotation, we’ll be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
Booher shared similar sentiments.
“Once we come out of the COVID-restricted environment, our Combat Aviation Brigade isn’t going to slow down,” Booher said, “Operation Tempo is only going to ramp back up. During the COVID-environment, we’re getting ahead, equipping our aircraft with the flight hours they need to respond to whatever comes next.”

• Date Taken: 05.08.2020
• Date Posted: 05.08.2020 16:47
• Story ID: 369598
• Location: FORT RILEY, KS, US