Table Of Content

aa tanememenenl Lttettettette! kKaKKkKK* AVIATION DIGEST PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN 1-91-11 e JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1991 Sweeping Cultural Changes in Army Aviation, MG Rudolph Ostovich III Back Cover: U.S. Army Desert Shield and the Army Aviation National Maintenance Aviation Digest Author’s Point, LTC Roy Oler Guide Anytime, Any Place, Mr. Warren Schnell and Mr. Eugene McDonald Cover: The cover pays Providing Engineering Support to Operation Desert Shield, tribute to the people of the Mr. William S. McDonald Army Aviation National Readiness and Conservation, Partners in the Persian Gulf, Maintenance Point, U.S. Mr. William H. Arnette Army Aviation System’s 13 M-130 Flare/Chaff Dispenser Command, in CONUS and 14 U.S. Army Aviation Center Aircraft Maintenance Contract, in-theater, who are LTC W. Larry Dandridge providing maintenance and 24 PEARL’S: Sand, Sun, and Survival; Western Region ALSE/ logistics suppport to Army Survival School; ALSE Shops Aviation deployed forces 26 Aviation Medicine Report: Face of Death, 1LT G. Habermehl in Saudi Arabia. 28 Operations in the Desert: We Fought (and Died) the Way We Trained, CW2 Victor E. Carlin . 36 Views From Readers Major General Rudolph Ostovich Ili 37 Aviation Personnel Notes: Army Aviation Personnel Plan Commander, U.S. Army Aviation Center (A2P2); Changes to Army Regulation 611-201 Patricia S. Kitchell 38 USASSO Sez: FLIP Account Managers, MSG(P) Walter Editor McPherson By order of the Secretary of the Army: 40 ATC Focus: The Digital Bright Radar Indicator Tower Carl E. Vuono Equipment System, MSG Chet Spangler General, U.S. Army Chief of Staff 42 Aviation Logistics: Test Pilot Standardization, LTC Douglas A. Official: Cahill William J. Meehan II 44 DES Report to the Field: Enlisted Crewmembers: To Pay or Brigadier General, U.S. Army The Adjutant General Not to Pay?, SFC Drake Willoughby 46 Apaches at the NTC—They’re Here, MAJ Michael L. Poumade 52 Winning in the Desert, Part 2 The mission of the U.S. Army Aviation Digest professional bulletin (USPS 415-350) Articles, photos and items of interest on Army Aviation are invited. Direct is to provide information of an operational, functional nature concerning safety and communication is authorized by writing Editor, U.S. Army Aviation Digest, ATZQ- aircraft accident prevention, air traffic control, training and doctrine, maintenance, AP-AD, Fort Rucker, AL 36362-5042, or by calling either AUTOVON 558-3178 or operations, research and development, aviation medicine and other related data Commercial 205-255-3178. Manuscripts returned only upon request Information contained in this bulletin does not change or supersede any information Second class postage paid at Daleville, AL, and additional mailing offices. presented in other official Army publications Active Army, Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve units receive distribu- The Digest is an official Department of the Army professional bulletin pubkshed tion as outlined in DA Pamphlet 25-33. To complete DA Form 12-99-R, enter form bimonthly under the supervision of the commander, U.S. Army Aviation Center. Views number 12-05-E, block number 0014 and quantity. Also use DA Form 12-99-R for expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Department of the Army nor the any change in distribution requirements. Submit to your publications control officer. U.S. Army Aviation Center. Photos are U.S. Army unless otherwise specified. Use of Personal copies of the Digest can be ordered from the Superintendent of the masculine pronoun is intended to include both genders unless otherwise stated Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 Material may be reprinted provided credit is given to the Aviation Digest and to the POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. author unless otherwise indicated Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 Major General Rudolph Ostovich II! Chief, Army Aviation Branch Sweeping Cultural Changes in Army Aviation In today’s world of changing political alignments and distributive training. Soldiers receive formal, schoolhouse lessened emphasis on traditional doctrine designed to instruction in fundamental maintenance practices and fight on the European battlefield, Army is forging a then report to maintenance units for supervised, hands- warfighting philosophy emphasizing a variety of missions on aircraft systems training, which extends throughout likely to occur worldwide. Nowhere is this more pro- their first term of enlistment. On re-enlistment, they foundly evident than in aviation. Modern aviation sys- receive training (BNCOC) in advanced mechanical and tems provide commanders formidable tactical and leadership skills before returning to a field assignment. operational force multipliers. Multirole characteristics With the apprentice mechanic program, we are work- present today, and more so in future aircraft, provide ing to retain soldiers in pay grades E6 and E7 on the capability for a variety of missions over a wide range of flightline where their maintenance skills are best applied. contingency scenarios. This system will meet the demands of more sophisticated This revolutionary application of aviation requires aircraft and armament systems. responsive maintenance and logistics support. To meet We are formulating another initiative addressing the this challenge, aviation maintenance is improving its time maintainers spend performing productive mainte- policies and programs. Increased emphasis on RAM-D nance. The ASPR showed we can improve the time (reliability, availability, maintainability, and durability); maintainers actually maintain as opposed to non-MOS improved management policies; new maintenance initia- related duties. The fact that aviation mechanics typically tives; and restructure of our maintenance organizations spend only 23 percent of each duty day performing will meet aviation’s new support requirements. productive aircraft maintenance makes achieving DA Modern aircraft, with high-tech components and com- readiness standards extremely difficult. posite structures, need increased emphasis on RAM-D An analysis of Army Aviation’s personnel-to-equip- during development. In the past, we have experienced ment ratio revealed that, despite the cost and complexity problems with systems with insufficient priority on of aviation systems, our battalions actually receive fewer RAM-D. New weapons systems are being developed with maintainers per end item than our mech infantry and more stringent reliability standards. LH is a case in armor battalion counterparts. To alleviate this situation, point. We place an increased effort on RAM-D during manpower levels will be increased in attack helicopter development, which translates to improved mission battalions to one crewchief per aircraft. effectiveness. Under the AirLand Battle-Future concept, we are Another important consideration for increasing mis- restructuring the Army into a lighter, more mobile and sion effectiveness is the amount of time allocated and effective fighting force. We are examining ways to build effort expended on systems maintenance. Historical data aviation units and supporting structure into a force that have shown phase time for aircraft is significantly can perform any mission worldwide. The future opera- reduced when the priority is day-to-day maintenance tional maintenance company (OMC) and operational management. Assigning a dedicated crewchief to each maintenance battalion (OMB) will significantly improve aircraft, prephase planning, experienced phase teams, aviation maintenance and logistics for tomorrow’s fleet. and command emphasis at all levels are examples of Under the OMC/OMB concept, consolidated and con- maintenance management policies that increase the effec- centrated manpower will increase aircraft availability by tiveness of maintenance programs. decreasing turnaround time for scheduled inspections and As a result of the July 1990 Aviation Systems Program repair of battle damage. Review (ASPR), we are embarking on initiatives that will Recent events proved the capability and impact of start a sweeping cultural change in the way we perform Army Aviation on the battlefield. We are constantly our maintenance mission: An apprentice mechanic pro- looking for innovative ways to improve that capability. gram; placing skilled senior NCOs on the flightline; No matter what the mission or environment, Army increased time devoted to maintenance functions; and Aviation will be expected to perform. I’m confident that increase in the ratio of mechanics to aircraft. our aviation force—today’s and tomorrow’s—will meet The apprentice mechanic program as a training strat- these challenges and continue to demonstrate its relevant egy falls in line with the Army’s current trend toward contribution to combined arms warfare. a U.S. ARMY AVIATION DIGEST IN SUPPORT OF DESERT SHIELD .A d DESERT SHIELD and the Army Aviation National Maintenance Point Lieutenant Colonel Roy Oler Chief, Maintenance Operations Center Directorate for Maintenance (Desert Shield Operations) JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1991 WE AT THE Army Aviation National maintenance operations element, better known Maintenance Point (NMP), U.S. Army Avia- as Theater Aviation Maintenance Program - tion Systems Command (AVSCOM), St. Louis, Saudi Arabia (TAMP-SA). What it is, what it MO, have dealt with many crisis situations and does, and some of the activities taking place to military deployments in the past. Never in the support Army Aviation in Saudi Arabia follow. history of the country, however, has the U.S. Army deployed as many forces as fast as during the outset of Operation Desert Shield. Basic Mission of TAMP-SA Putting a support structure in place and The basic mission of TAMP-SA, in support making it work right for Army Aviation de- of deployed units, is as follows: ployed forces continues to take the talents of many disciplines of which our maintenance Provide maintenance and limited depot-level re- people at the NMP play no small part. This pairs of aircraft, their engines, and components. issue of the Aviation Digest is dedicated to those having a part in getting an Army Avia- e Install modification work orders (MWOs). tion maintenance program started in Saudi Arabia, those who have had a part in keeping it ¢ Provide on-site technical assistance through the going, and those responsible for making it use of engineers, logistics assistance representatives, continue to work. and contract field service representatives. The personnel at the NMP are dedicated to the continued support of Desert Shield. This e Evaluate environmental impacts associated with support stems from AVSCOM’s aviation main- desert operations and develop preventative mainte- tenance responsibilities—maintenance engineer- nance to counter these impacts, thereby extending ing, maintenance operations, maintenance the life of aircraft and their components. management, parts provisioning, technical and maintenance publications, and training. This e Fix things forward to ease the pressure on support is only one segment of the overall extended maintenance and supply pipelines. AVSCOM presence with Opera- tion Desert Shield. NMP support is managed through an AVSCOM Forward AVSCOM organization as shown in figure FORWARD 1. This organization is the clear- inghouse and expeditor for AV- SCOM interest and activities in TECHNICAL MAINT OPS a ASSISTANT TAMP-SA and out of the area—a busy place indeed! FORWARD REAR Theater Aviation Maintenance Program—Saudi Arabia FIGURE 1: AVSCOM Forward Organization, With this in mind, we at the Theater Aviation Maintenance Program. NMP want to tell you about our U.S. ARMY AVIATION DIGEST IN SUPPORT OF DESERT SHIELD Specific Activities of TAMP-SA TAMP-SA (Base) TAMP-SA provides armament support for TAMP-SA (Base) (figures 2 and 3), located AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Cobra helicopters. It in Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is capa- provides engineering support on nonstandard ble of performing general and specialized tasks: repairs. TAMP-SA operates a turbine engine service e Limited depot repair of selected components. center designed to .eliminate unnecessary engine removal by the following actions: e Off the aircraft repair of turbine engines and testing the engines on an engine test stand. e Testing engines on the aircraft with portable engine analyzer test sets. e Heavy sheet metal repairs, corrosion control, and aircraft painting. e Providing technical assistance to maintenance units for troubleshooting and aircraft engine repair. e Special repair activities to support target acquisi- tion and designation sights/pilot night vision sen- e Performing limited depot repairs without remov- sors; integrated helmet and display sights systems; ing the engine from the aircraft. mast-mounted sights; selected Apache components; and selected U.S. Army Communications-Electron- © Developing preventive maintenance measures to ics Command-managed items. prolong engine life during desert operations. e AVSCOM’s forward-deployed aviation intensive management items point. TAMP-SA BASE fi AIRFRAME COMPONENT HEAVYR ESPHAEEI RTM E TAL REENPGAINIER SAUDI ARABIA ROTOR BLADES FIGURE 2: Theater Aviation Maintenance FIGURE 3: Locations of TAMP-SA (Base) and Program (TAMP-SA) (Base) Organization. TAMP-SA (Forward) in the Middle East. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1991 IN SUPPORT OF DESERT SHIELD TAMP-SA (Forward) Interface TAMP-SA (Forward) (figures 3 and 4), a The interface between the NMP and the forward-deployed subelement of TAMP-SA, is TAMP-SA is only one example of how we located in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It is capa- react to maintenance requirements of Desert ble of performing the following tasks: Shield. Current efforts and activities at the NMP specifically in support of Desert Shield and Army Aviation maintenance as a whole ¢ Offloading of aircraft arriving in Saudi Arabia. follows in the next three articles. A cadre of both military and government e Augmenting aviation maintenance units, provid- civilians man TAMP-SA. The actual working backup maintenance support, and installing force is predominately contract personnel. MWOs. TAMP-SA has been designed with flexibility and the capability to expand and contract to e Applying an erosion protection tape to helicopter meet the requirements of our forward- rotor blades (Rotor Blade Erosion Control Pro- deployed aviation forces. |a E gram) and exchanging these in shipsets with unpro- tected blades. TAMP-SA } FORWARD AVIM J MAINT |) ARMAMENT} ; al SUPPORT Ff aan AUGMENT AVIM PASS BACK AH-64 | ENGINE | TECH ASST EXT SUPPLY | SERVICE SUPPORT 7 CENTER LAR s Aimt | ax eaC 10)5) o me Sam Mal- t-)( tae WUT lelela mu t-lialcclar- lala Program. TAMP-SA (Forward) Organization. U.S. ARMY AVIATION DIGEST IN SUPPORT OF DESERT SHIELD spent more than 30 years honing our operational and maintenance concepts to support the Army Aviation mission anywhere in the world. With justifiable pride, we can point to our record and creed: Be ready anytime and at any place. We have tested ourselves and our machines during maneuvers and combat in widely divergent environments. We have developed confidence in aviation. That confidence has been touched, just a bit, by the romance of aviation as seen through our eyes and the eyes of others—shining aircraft and exotic destinations. However, Operation Desert Shield has been a cultural shock. Army Aviation has responded with excellent readiness rates; but it Mr. Warren Schnell Chief, Technical Publications Branch has been quite different than practicing our skills and talents in the Mojave Desert. The Mr. Eugene McDonald combination of fine airborne sand and unre- Chief, Provisioning Branch mitting high temperatures has resulted in a number of changes to our maintenance and Directorate for Maintenance U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command operational procedures. Distances and a differ- St. Louis, MO ent culture have also tested our logistical abilities to provide spare parts and manuals. THE AIRCRAFT has become what the AVSCOM has responded to these challenges locomotive was in the 19th century: the stuff in a number of ways. As a result of the dreams are made of. Mention that you work ever-present sand, we published Technical Bul- in aviation and the listener invariably responds letin (TB) 1-1500-200-20-29, Preventive Main- with a knowing nod of his head. Then he tenance for Army Helicopters: AH-64, UH-60, reminisces on his own perception of aviation. CH-47, UH-1, AH-1, and OH-58 Helicopter, Ask him about his own aviation experiences on 1 October 1990. This general publication and, most likely, he will respond with stories emphasizes the importance of cleaning sand about a shining aircraft on which he traveled from hydraulic actuators, avionic bays, auxil- to some exotic vacation spot and an airport iary power units, radiators, and heat exchang- tarnished by inconveniences, but one of order ers. Users have been encouraged to protect and cleanliness. parked aircraft from sand intrusion by cover- Those of us who work, fly, or fight with ing cyclic and collective grips with small plastic Army Aviation have a different perspective of bags and covering control consoles with plastic aviation. Aviation, to us, is mud and dirt. A sheets—securing both with tape. shining aircraft is not our goal. To us, it can Increased parts usage and different environ- be the target of a heat-seeking missile. ment have resulted in a reevaluation of our At the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Com- current time between overhaul (TBO) times. mand (AVSCOM), St. Louis, MO, we have As a result, we released TB 55-1500-200-30-1, | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1991 Extended Time Between Overhaul (TBO) being prepared. AVSCOM has released over Hours for Combat Desert Operations, on 19 160 new and changed publications since 2 October 1990. In many cases, it authorized a August 1990. ‘‘combat’’ TBO for use in Desert Shield, thus Behind the scenes, we have been working extending parts life under the prevailing condi- with the U.S. Army Printing and Publications tions. Changes and updates to maintenance Command, Alexandria, VA, to expedite deliv- procedures are of little use without the re- ery of technical manuals. The many lessons quired parts, consumables, and tools. Our learned in dealing with different cultures and provisioning experts have been working closely in transportation to and around this part of with publications personnel to evaluate envi- the world are included in these manuals. ronmentally induced problems and making Desert Shield already has brought positive appropriate changes. results. We have reviewed and adjusted our High aircraft-readiness rates required in operational and maintenance concepts and combat have resulted in a review of the again feel certain that we are able to go aircraft phase inspection requirements. Our anytime, anyplace to support the mission of purpose has been to reduce phase maintenance Army Aviation throughout the globe. Now we inspection times in combat. We have reevalu- even wonder what lessons could be learned ated the phase maintenance inspection manuals from a large deployment under arctic on the prime aircraft systems. conditions. ——, Many of the existing inspection requirements were intended to add years to the life of the aircraft. When individual inspections are not required for readiness or safety, they are sand-eroded blade waived until the next phase. We have modified the phase inspection manuals for all first-line aircraft to reflect combat inspection requirements. Sand erosion of rotor blades has resulted in the release of TB 1-1500-200-20-28, Rotor Blade Erosion Protection for all Army Air- craft, covering both painting and taping of rotor blades as shown in this extract from the TB (figure). We made changes to the provisioning of the UH-60 Black Hawk main rotor blade to permit the desert use of blades with inoperative deicing boots not required in eTeliare! Southwest Asia. L fg ALIGN MARKS ra ON CENTER igo)C ols OF LEADING Based on field comments, we are currently EDGE le)F -Tel = preparing manuals for desert operation of the T700 and other engines. We have reduced lead time for the preparation of these manuals PRESS TAPE FROM from months to days. We have expedited the LEADING EDGE TO TRAILING EOGE preparation of many other manuals already U.S. ARMY AVIATION DIGEST IN SUPPORT OF DESERT SHIELD $ 5 B : Providing Engineering Support to Operation Desert Shield Mr. William S. McDonald Chief, Maintenance Engineering Division Directorate for Maintenance U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command St. Louis, MO IRECTED BY Major General (MG) Don- sonnel in theater. As forces build, support person- ald R. Williamson, Commander, U.S. nel requirements will expand. Army Aviation Systems Command (AVSCOM), and Colonel Gary D. Johnson, Direc- Onsite Engineering tor of Maintenance, business as usual ceased at The need for onsite maintenance engineering 4800 Goodfeliow Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, on 2 expertise is now being met with three maintenance August 1990. Since that date, the Maintenance liaison engineers. The running joke is that they are Engineering Division alone has deployed five per- on a half-day schedule of 12 hours daily. This is JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1991