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NAVAIR North Island Depot inducts first CH-53 for Integrated Maintenance Concept program

NAVAIR News Release

1/8/2003

By Bill Bartkus NAVAIR Depot North Island

CORONADO, Calif. - Naval Air Depot North Island has inducted its first Marine CH-53 helicopter into the Integrated Maintenance Concept program. And since early December, everything is going as planned, noted Ron Cobb, deputy program manager for the CH-53 and H-1 helicopter programs at the Depot.

"The Logistics Competency, who set up the H-53 proto type, has done an excellent job of planning the logistic elements of the program," he said. "We did have to make a few minor adjustments," Cobb said, "but everything is going smoothly up to this point."

Cobb said that artisans are removing the large components off the aircraft to facilitate inspection by the aircraft examination and evaluators (E&E) who will inspect it in accordance with IMC specifications. "Some large components will be reworked at Cherry Point (N.C.), if the examiners determine the repair is beyond the IMC scope." he said. "The tail pylon, sponsons, engine air particle separators (EAPS), the rotor shafts that go from the gearbox to the tail rotor, are examples of the components that will be processed at Cherry Point."

The parts that North Island determines are beyond our capability will be shipped to NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point for repair. Cherry Point will ship the items back to North Island after completing the rework. Cobb said that the Depot could meet the 180-day turnaround time "because we have a set of rotable pool items that are already pre-positioned. As soon as we find one that has failed, we will ship it back to Cherry Point." He said that the drive shafts would be shipped to the East Coast as soon as artisans remove them "because these repairs need to be made in North Carolina," he said.

The sponsons and the tail pylons "will be repaired here in the shadow of the aircraft," Cobb stated. "If these parts can't be repaired locally, then they will be shipped to Cherry Point."

Artisans will be working on five prototypes. "The first three are heel to toe. Once we complete the first aircraft, the second aircraft will arrive. The third will arrive after completion of the second and by the forth and fifth aircraft we will have multiple aircraft in flow," said Cobb. Once the prototypes are completed, the Depot expects to get up 17 aircraft per year, according to Cobb. "We'll be doing all the CH-53s on the West Coast."

Currently, there are seven artisans working on the CH-53 that is in the plant now. There are also three examiners and evaluators, two production controllers, one supervisor, and one planner and estimator.

The first aircraft went to the Paint Facility soon after it arrived. "The exterior paint was stripped to allow the examiners to inspect for corrosion. The artisans used plastic media blast to strip the paint from the exterior of helicopter," said Cobb. Because these types of aircraft get a lot of sand, mud and dirt inside the bilge area, the interior needs to be cleaned by hand.

"The Marines provide the 7-R COG parts (repairable components) in accordance with the IMC instruction. The failed components that are determined to be defective, such as a hydraulic pump or a fuel cell, will be negotiated with the Marine Corps IMC representative, and they will provide replacements for the failed parts," Cobb said. "All four fuel cells on the first H-53 aircraft were bad, and the IMC representative was notified to negotiate new fuel cells from the Marines."

The Depot will perform the ground check on the aircraft with the assistance of the Marine squadrons. Once the aircraft completes the hangar portion of the IMC process, it is re-assembled, and ready for ground check. "The Marines will assist us with the first three aircraft in the ground check phase so that Depot personnel are properly trained and certified. After the first three proto type H-53s, we will perform the ground check operations function ourselves," Cobb said.

He said that the Depot is right on target with the first aircraft through the PMB phase and should be finished in 180 days if the rest of the phases go as smooth as the first three. The ground check phase will be the most difficult to maintain schedule on due to the lack of high failure parts that will be required to be replaced after an aircraft sits for six months. "Then we will begin work on the second aircraft and so on down the line," said Cobb. He estimates that there are 45 such aircraft on the West Coast, "and we will perform IMC on each of them. Our artisans will perform the IMC every 48 months on each aircraft," Cobb stated.

NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technology to the American war fighter. Located in eight sites around the country, NAVAIR provides precision naval aviation technologies in sensors, aircraft, weapons, training, launch and recovery systems, and communication. NAVAIR warfare technology is delivering transformational service to the Navy, to all other Department of Defense services, as well as military organizations of allies around the world.