Thousands of pounds of power and speed sat idle at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. for 866 days. An MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 264 (Reinforced) was grounded until recently due to corroded parts. Marines as well as contractors worked to return the aircraft to operational status and on July 13, 2018, it took its first flight in more than two years.
Much of the damage to the vessel was due to its transition from land to expeditionary ships at sea, said Mark Dennington, a sheet metal artisan with Fleet Readiness Services.
“A lot of the aluminum parts were starting to corrode to the point where they needed to get replaced or addressed,” said Dennington. “We removed all the corrosion and blended them out to a certain radius where they’re smooth.”
Restoring the aircraft’s K-fittings - joints that combine panels on its wings - was an important step to getting the aircraft back in flight.
“We found a little K-fitting corrosion and we put it back together as much as we could,” said Chris Donnelly, maintenance lead, Boeing on-sight Quick Reaction Team. “We built up the hubs, the cells and put together the wing. All the fuel cells and a lot of the avionics went back into it and made it a fully functional aircraft.”
Avionic and airframe Marines were especially helpful in restoring the aircraft, added Donnelly.
Ultimately, the teamwork of both contractors and Marines enabled the aircraft’s first flight to take off without a hitch.
“It was seamless, we had no issues with any of the repairs or the work that was done,” said Capt. Mark Siegel, MV-22 pilot and logistics officer for VMM-264. “It is a great airplane, we can perform a wide variety of missions, and bring a lot to the MEU and Marines on the ground. To get this plane back in the fight is a big win and a big testament to how hard our Marines work and to what a great job the contractors did.”