CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – The avionics maintenance section of an aviation brigade is vital to mission success. The 28th Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Keystone, is no exception.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 William Edwards is the maintenance chief deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to Contingency Operating Base Adder with Company B, 628th Aviation Support Battalion. Edwards, a Jonestown, Pa., resident, supervises an operation made up of several specialties.
“The avionics platoon personnel work on anything with electricity or signals running through it,” explained Edwards.
The avionics maintenance section can be broken down into several sub sections, including radio repair, radar, automatic flight control system repair, navigation system repair, avionics flight line mechanics and electrical repair. Edwards supervises work done by these sections on the three main types of helicopters used in Iraq by Task Force Keystone: the Chinook, the Apache and the UH-60 Black Hawk. Phase maintenance is performed on the aircraft every 200 and 400 flight hours, according to Edwards.
“They basically tear down everything” and perform the regularly scheduled maintenance and inspections as well as any necessary repairs, Edwards said.
Edward’s sections receive work orders for repairs on the aircraft and perform unscheduled maintenance too.
“We are responsible for all the different types of aircraft,” he said, “so we have to know how to fix them all.”
Staff Sgt. Larry Grose of Duncannon, Pa., is the section chief for radio repair. While Grose said he supervises the smallest section of avionics, his radios have a big reach.
“You can basically talk around the world on this (high frequency) radio,” he said.
Grose said his crew does mostly bench work, meaning their work is done outside of the aircraft in vans, long semi-trailers. Inside the repair vans are benches, stools and of course, electricity to run all of their test equipment. “We work from two different types of vans,” he said. “One is for repair work. The other is for parts storage. We work out of our repair vans, so we are pretty self sufficient.”
There are also navigation and radar work crews, as well as a flight-control systems repair crew. The navigation repair crew uses a mock system resembling the aircraft dashboard system to run tests on the aircraft’s defenses. The air crew’s night-vision goggles are also maintained by the avionics section.
The avionics mechanics make sure the aircraft’s many highly-integrated systems are functional and the electricians work on all of the electrical wiring, “which is quite extensive,” Edwards said.
Along with the many other tasks carried out by the avionics section, they are also responsible for ensuring all of the calibrated tools and test equipment belonging to Co. B are checked regularly.
According to Edwards, the conditions in southern Iraq have been a big challenge for his crews. Dust and other weather conditions have cancelled many flights and coupled with the extreme heat it becomes difficult to keep all of the repair vans’ air-conditioning systems clean and functional.
“Our issues are mostly environmental,” he said.
“Getting parts in a timely manner is difficult at times,” said Edwards. Sometimes they have to work around the usual procedures in the supply systems to get what is needed for quick repairs or maintenance.
In spite of the issues of working in a desert climate, the avionics maintenance section has logged more than 3,000 man hours in repairs and completed 51 phase maintenance inspections and flight line maintenance, keeping the aircraft of the 28th CAB safely in the air to execute their missions.
