Liaison Engineers
Tech Talk / By Mr. Clarence Hitchings and Mr. Miguel Sanchez: You’re a maintainer performing a scheduled maintenance inspection on your UH-60M Black Hawk and you notice one of the main rotor blades has a small puncture on the upper honeycomb surface. You consult the current technical manual for this aircraft and to your surprise there is no repair for this area. Your production control and quality control come to the same conclusion so you ask your AMCOM Logistics Assistance Representative (LAR) who agrees with your assessment and tells you to contact your Liaison Engineer (LE). Liaison Engineers (LE) are...
Learn MoreAvionics Training
128th Aviation Brigade / By SSG Jerome Penwright, Jr.: Avionics is the amalgamation of two words, aviation and electronics. It is a general term for all electrical equipment used in Army aircraft. C/1-210th Avn. Regt. Chinook Avionics Trainer (CAT) with Instructor Operating Station, far right, at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA./ 128th AVN BDE PHOTO BY SSG JEROME PENWRIGHT The Military Occupational Specialty 15N Avionics Repairer performs maintenance on tactical components the pilot directly uses, such as navigation, radio communication, survivability and flight control equipment. In addition, avionics repairers maintain other electronic systems not directly used by the pilot that control...
Learn MoreOut of Sight – Not Out of Mind
Reserve Components / By BG Scott R. Morcomb: On any given day, behind the pleasant noise of the cadenced and rhythmic prop wash, often lays a select few Army aviators who earn their pay above the clouds at 25,000 feet. Aviators from the Army Reserve Aviation Command assisted in the transfer of remains of U.S. Soldiers from the Mexican-American War. The multi-day mission required the aviators to fly into Monterrey, Mexico to retrieve the remains and then transport them to Dover Air Force Base for a Dignified Transfer Ceremony led by the U.S. Army’s Old Guard, Sept. 28. / U.S....
Learn MoreMoving Forward – Green Suit Maintainers In the Lead
AMCOM Command Sergeant Major / By CSM Glen Vela: As I travel and talk with aviation Soldiers and NCOs, I continue to notice a common theme. The departure from green suit led aircraft maintenance. An Aviation noncommissioned officer coaching, teaching, and mentoring an enlisted Soldier on maintenance procedures / U.S. ARMY PHOTO Let’s start by realizing that we have challenges with providing adequate maintenance training and development to an entire generation of leaders. This has resulted in Army Aviation becoming far too reliant on contract maintenance; moreover, it has directly impacted the development of our Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Corps which...
Learn MoreAre We Ready Tonight?
AMCOM Commander Update / By MG Douglas M. Gabram: Your cell phone goes off on a Sunday afternoon. You answer to hear the voice of your battalion commander, “I need all of the company commanders in my office at 1600 today. Aviation Soldiers performing sea port of embarkation (SPOE) operations in support of combatant command (COCOM) requirements / U.S. ARMY PHOTO Bring your deployable personnel status, your updated load plans, vehicle and aircraft maintenance status, the rest of the details we will discuss at HQ.” Hours later, you and your fellow company commanders emerge out of the battalion commander’s office....
Learn MoreOn the Winds of Change
President’s Cockpit / By BG E.J. Sinclair, Ret.: I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It is amazing to think we are already in 2017. No doubt 2017 is going to be a year of changes in many ways. Celebrating the U.S. Army Aviation Soldier and Family at the Army Aviation Association of America display on the exhibit hall floor during the 2016 Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit in Atlanta, GA. Join us in Nashville 26-28 Apr. 2017! We will have a new President and Administration by the time you read this. The Army’s end-strength drawdown...
Learn MoreThe UmeCobra Microphone
Industry Support / By Mr. Adithya M. R. Padala: UmeVoice has been solving mission critical problems from Wall Street to Fortune 500 companies to the military for over two decades. UmeVoice first created specialized voice recognition software for the top Wall Street Traders. UmeVoice gave Goldman Sachs traders the unique ability to rapidly speak phrases such as “Buy 10,000 GE at 32 and a sixteenth.” UmeVoice was delivering effective voice recognition to Wall Street before equities were traded in decimals! Aircrews on HH-60G PaveHawk helicopters from 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, FL are outfitted with the UmeCobra...
Learn MoreLearning How to Create Aviation Maintenance Excellence
128th Aviation Brigade / By SGM James Etheridge: There I was, 22 years in the Army, a CSM in Honduras conducting joint multinational missions; I had 16 years in the 160th with three years as the S-3 SGM, Joint assignments in OEF/OIF, by all measures I guess I could be called, “high seed, low drag,” at least that is what I told myself, and then it hit me… I was being assigned to the 128th Aviation Brigade? YOUR CAPTION HERE As the Brigade S-3 Sergeant Major? Say what? So I asked myself, “Self, where and what is the 128th Aviation...
Learn MoreUnder the Radar…
Reserve Components Aviation / By COL J. Ray Davis: Greetings again from the Army National Guard (ARNG). Here’s an update on what Your Guard Aviation teammates have been doing. New York Army National Guard deploys its UH-72 Lakotas to the Texas/Mexico border. / NEW YORK NATIONAL GUARD PHOTO BY SFC STEVEN PETIBONE First, a quick review of history regarding this operation. The Army National Guard established Operation Phalanx in July 2010, based on an Executive Order from President Obama along the 1,933-mile southwest border in support of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. Operation Phalanx is the successor operation...
Learn MoreBringing Commercial-off-the-Shelf Avionics to Military Cockpits
Industry Support / By Mr. Carl Wolf: For decades commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) avionics have remained attractive as a conceivable solution for military cockpits around the world, primarily due to their relatively low cost and considerably shorter lead-times. The drawback that has persisted has largely been the perception that COTS avionics equipment are not capable of supporting the missions frequently flown by military aircraft or withstanding the harsh environments in which military aircraft typically operate. A leading supplier of avionics systems and integrated flight decks, Garmin Aviation continues to push the envelope, developing products, largely at their own expense, designed around advanced...
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