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Maintaining so ‘that others may live’

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. David Dobrydney
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  The HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter is a formidable tool in the Combat Search and Rescue arsenal.

The members of the 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's 83rd Helicopter Maintenance Unit here work hard to keep it that way.

"Our first priority is to make sure we provide safe and reliable helicopters for the CSAR mission," said 1st Lt. Nicholas Mangus, 83rd HMU officer in charge. "We are ready 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, rain or shine to make sure these helos fly."

The 83rd HMU can repair anything from a damaged strut from a hard landing to battle damage.

"Sometimes the helicopters will come back with bullet holes or shrapnel or something like that," Mangus said.

Airman 1st Class Zachary Hughes, 83rd HMU aircraft structural maintainer, is responsible for helping repair that damage when it occurs.

"It's a much more intense role for an aircraft," Hughes said of the missions the Pave Hawks execute. "They fly low, they have to deal with the enemy ... [we] definitely put a lot into these aircraft and they need to get up as soon as possible to save lives."

Both Mangus and Hughes recalled one instance where in the midst of a mission a bullet struck the cargo door of a Pave Hawk, going clean through the other end of helicopter.

In that instance repairs were relatively simple, but while Magnus said the helicopters can take punishment and keep flying, it can increase the complexity of their work when the helicopters return.

"Sometimes, depending on where the bullets hit, if they go into the gearbox or the fuel tanks, for safety reasons we have to break into it... to find the damage and repair it," he said.

Staff Sgt. Bernard Williams, 83rd HMU crew chief, has worked on HH-60s for six years and has deployed five times. He and the other HMU members know that reason why they have to patch a bullet hole or straighten parts bent from a rough landing.

"The maintenance that we do is a direct result of how many lives they save," he said. "Every job is something to be proud of."

The hard work the maintainers put in isn't lost on the pilots who fly the Pave Hawks.
"They understand how their job impacts the mission ... [and how it] enables us to rescue more people," said Maj. Phillip Swenson, 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron assistant director of operations. Swenson likened the pilot-maintainer relationship to a bicycle.

"One wheel is ops and the other is maintenance. You need both wheels for that bike to go."