Aircraft repair centers offer quick fix

An overhauled CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter is towed from a maintenance hangar at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, Calif. After being outfitted with its rotor blades, the transport helicopter will undergo flight testing before returning to its squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.


Aircraft repair centers offer quick fix
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 18, 2008 15:51:44 EST

NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. — The F/A-18C Hornet, perched atop scaffolding and sliced into three sections, wasn’t going anywhere.

The jet, disassembled and wingless, awaited the installation of a new center barrel that will strengthen its backbone in an effort to breathe years of life into it.

Inside a nearby hangar, a small tractor towed an overhauled Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter to North Island’s flight line for testing before it returns to its San Diego-based squadron. Another Super Stallion would soon arrive at Fleet Readiness Center Southwest to take its place.

The military’s major West Coast aircraft repair center, at Naval Air Station North Island, is the fix-it, overhaul-it place for battle-worn or broken Navy and Marine Corps jets, helicopters and transport aircraft. Established by 2005 base closure and realignment legislation, FRC Southwest and five other fleet readiness centers fix and overhaul Navy and Marine aircraft at a fraction of the cost of buying replacements, officials say.

Driving the fast pace of the work is the Navy’s “AirSpeed” initiative, which officials say does a faster job of getting jets and helos fixed and back to the fleet.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/01/marine_fixing_air_080118/



uhc comment: Meet Naval Air Station North Island:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/north-island.htm




Naval Air Station North Island

Naval Air Station, North Island is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the Navy. It includes Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Outlying Field Imperial Beach and Naval Air Landing Facility, San Clemente Island. The complex's 5000 acres in San Diego and 130 commands bracket the city of Coronado from the entrance to San Diego Bay to the Mexican border. North Island itself is host to 23 squadrons and 75 additional tenant commands and activities, one of which, the Naval Aviation Depot, is the largest aerospace employer in San Diego. North Island was commissioned a naval air station in 1917, 82 years ago. On August 15, 1963, the station, which was originally called the Naval Air Station, San Diego until 1955, was granted official recognition as the "Birthplace of Naval Aviation" by resolution of the House Armed Services Committee.

There are some 165 nuclear aerial bombs stationed at Naval Air Station North Island storage facility in San Diego, California. Another 65 W-80-0 Tomahawk SLCM munitions are distributed between this storage facility and the Laplaya Annex Naval Weapons Station in the Point Loma area of San Diego.

As jet aircraft performance increased, they became increasingly challenged by the combination of community encroachment and airspace restriction at NAS North Island. The field’s assigned aircraft now include the S-3 and the H-46 and H-60 helicopters. The E-2 community has relocated to NBVC Point Mugu while higher performance aircraft have been relocated to less confined installations such as MCAS Miramar and NAS Lemoore. Nevertheless, North Island offers a variety of unique advantages. In particular, with the closure of NAS Alameda, North Island is the only Navy airfield on the West Coast that is collocated with the piers serving its fleet carriers.

The station’s location is also a significant factor in its encroachment situation. NAS North Island occupies approximately 2000 acres at the north end of the Coronado Peninsula. Immediately adjacent south of the field is some of the most expensive and exclusive residential and resort property in the nation. In accommodation of the adjacent communities, NAS North Island’s precision radar final approach course is offset eight degrees from runway centerline.

Airspace encroachment is also a serious issue at NAS North Island. The field’s proximity to San Diego Lindbergh Field means that many activities are conducted on an “either/or” basis, with one facility having to defer to the other’s traffic. NAS North Island must accommodate this situation by conducting almost all of its activity south of the field; however, this can exacerbate the tenuous noise relationship with its influential neighbors.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/north-island.htm