Photo By Chief Petty Officer Gary Prill | Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Equipment) 1st Class Fiona McMahon, from Fort Lauderdale,...... read more read more
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ATLANTIC OCEAN — Everyone has their own reasons for joining the Navy. Talking with Sailors, a person will come across a variety of responses to why they joined. A career in the Navy has many benefits such as travel, competitive pay or educational opportunities.
With all of these options, the Navy may set Sailors up for success, but it requires a level of determination to take advantage of what the Navy offers. Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Equipment 1st Class Fiona McMahon, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) air department’s V-2 division leading petty officer, is an example of that determination.
“When I was in high school, I was accepted into a few colleges but my parents didn’t have enough money to send me,” said McMahon. “My brother was the one that brought up the fact that America’s Navy pays for Sailor’s education through the GI Bill.”
McMahon’s family emigrated from Montego Bay, Jamaica, to the United States at an early age. It’s difficult to know what the future will bring. Sometimes in life, obstacles will appear that need to be overcome.
“I knew that I wanted something for my future. Not going to college wasn’t going to be the final answer for me,” said McMahon. “I sought out the next step in my life by seeking out the recruiter, rather than them seeking me out.”
Day after day, she noticed the same Navy recruiter at a restaurant across from her school. She was only 17 when she approached him to enlist.
“At that point, I was already set in my mind that I was going,” said McMahon.
McMahon knew she would enlist in the Navy, but still hadn’t figured out what rating to choose.
“I wanted to work on aircraft, but Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment), ABE for short, was the only rating available at the time,” said McMahon. “They told me I would still be really close to aircraft.”
McMahon enlisted in the Navy as an ABE in 2005, with the goal of completing her first enlistment and pursuing her education.
ABE’s primarily work on aircraft carriers due to the nature of their job, launching and recovering aircraft. At the time McMahon enlisted, the Navy relied entirely on steam-powered catapults for launching aircraft. Currently, steam-powered catapults are being upgraded to Electro Magnetic Aircraft Launch Systems (EMALS) on Ford-class carriers.
Having served aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and USS George Washington (CVN 73), most of McMahon’s experience and technical knowledge was gained from working on steam-powered catapults. Now assigned to the Ford, McMahon had to adapt to an entirely new system for launching aircraft.
“What I admire about EMALS, is that the system tells you when there’s an issue coming up and most of the time it’s fixable with a push of a button,” said McMahon. “For Nimitz-class carriers, when the system malfunctions, it can turn into a very time-consuming repair.”
McMahon said that another beneficial aspect to EMALS rather than steam, is the reduction in manpower required to perform maintenance. This reduction allows for the crew to get more rest and results in an overall improvement to safety.
“There are some easily fixable issues with steam catapults, but rather than the push of a button, they require a lot of man power and a tag out because of the dangers associated with steam that could harm someone operating on it,” said McMahon. “With generators, we can take everyone out of launch operations so they cannot activate the system, while we send people into the space to troubleshoot and bring the system back online.”
No new technology is without its share of challenges. Being first-in-class, Ford uses technology that, when an issue arises, there is no precedent. Manuals play a key role with first-in-class technology. When the crew is faced with a new issue, they solve them and develop standard operating procedures to prepare and train future Sailors.
“The manual helps with testing, conducting operations and troubleshooting,” said McMahon. “Whenever we run into something new, we have the manual to look into and correct the problem safely.”
Qualifications are a good measurement of how competent Sailors are to operate the systems on board.
“Since I was assigned to the Ford, it’s been my goal to become fully qualified,” said McMahon.
After her first enlistment, she decided to stay in and make a career out of the Navy.
“I didn’t know until a year ago, what it truly meant for me to get fully qualified here. We weren’t conducting flight operations while we were in the yards which made it difficult to receive training, but I still kept a good mindset. I wanted to get fully qualified,” said McMahon. “I set the goal, I’m going to accomplish it and I’m going to achieve it. That’s what I told myself every morning.”
Since she was only one qualification away from being fully qualified on the Nimitz-class, she worked hard to ensure she would become fully qualified on the Ford. Today, she is not only a qualified operator, but the first woman to fully qualify as an EMALS supervisor on a Ford-class carrier.
“My newest qualification is called maintenance work station. I work below deck on all the system operations for each catapult,” said McMahon. “I mostly monitor and trouble shoot to ensure each operation goes well.”
“It’s an honor being fully qualified. For future Sailors that have that similar goals, achieve them once they’ve been set, even if there is a roadblock in-between,” said McMahon. “We can all achieve anything we set our mind to and there are no barriers before us that we cannot overcome.”
McMahon now plans to get her Officer of The Deck qualification as a first class, making the rank of chief petty officer, as well as some earning more qualifications in aircraft recovery. McMahon proves that regardless of your circumstances, and with enough determination, any goal you set is achievable.
| Date Taken: | 07.20.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.20.2022 14:54 |
| Story ID: | 425412 |
| Location: | VIRGINIA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,188 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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