MILITARY ELECTONIC ATTACK SQUADRON 129
“There are different ways of disqualification,
boarding rate and grade point average [GPA]
are the most common failure metrics. Each
pass is graded and included in the student’s
GPA. If a student forgets to bring the power
up to mil power once they make the trap,
that student gets a DQ on the grounds of
safety; if the hook misses the wire, the aircraft
is unlikely to be able to get airborne again,
because the power setting is too low.
In the event of a DQ, the student must
discuss the CQ evolution with the instructors
before starting training for the next boat.
Managing the feelings and emotions of
a student who has received a DQ is all a
question of psychology and represents
the greatest skill each LSO must learn. Lt
Schnabel said: “You have to find out how the
student is feeling and that ability comes from
repetition in the process.”
The LSO in charge and an assistant for
each boat trip spend considerable time
with the students as they work up to CQ,
learning about their personalities and what
they need to hear from the LSOs before they
go out. Schnabel concluded: “You are part
psychologist during that time.”
Once students have achieved CQ, they
are posted to one of the 14 fleet squadrons
based at Whidbey Island. Throughout
their time in VAQ-129, student pilots are
dubbed nuggets, a title they keep until they
have completed 50 traps with their fleet
squadron. Remember the automatic and
semi-automatic landing modes discussed
earlier? Well, at this point in their flying
career with 50 traps under their belt,
pilots are for the first time allowed to use
automated landing modes.Maintaining the Growler
VAQ-129’s maintenance department is
separated into two divisions to help share the
squadron’s workload amongst its 400 people.
Each division has specific areas of expertise.
The AVARM division is responsible for
avionics and armaments. The aircraft division
is responsible for life support, ejection seats,
engines, airframe and corrosion control
(which also includes painting and is run by a
contractor). A work centre is assigned to each
of the five responsibilities.
Daily maintenance operations on VAQ-129start with a meeting involving the lead chief
from the five work centres each of whom
has an account of the maintenance required
for the day, week and month. Chiefs from
maintenance control issue the information for
the day based on the flight schedule.
Inspections or fixing discrepancies are
assigned to the work centres, which form
their respective plan for the day. Each plan
lists the work required both in the hangar
and on the flight line to support the daily
flight schedule. Work jobs are assigned by
each work centre supervisor in accordance
with the requirements and the respective
qualifications of each sailor.
Aircraft division lead Chief Petty Officer
Ray Hawver explained how a discrepancy,
one that is preventing an aircraft from flying,
takes priority in the work plan: “The system or
systems that are broken dictate which work
centre does the troubleshooting and fixes the
problem, so the aircraft can be included on
the flight schedule.”
The daily flight schedule has its own
requirements, primarily attending to aircraft
between missions, colloquially known as the
turn. Work required to turn aircraft depends
on whether the crew is doing a hot seat
change. This involves a crew swap with
one engine running and speeds up the time
required to turn. When flight operations
require rapid turnaround, in addition to engine
running crew swaps, hot pit refuelling is also
undertaken. This involves a minimum crew of
three people using pantograph fuelling arms
in a direct refuelling station known as a pit;
hence the term hot pit refuelling.
Aircraft return from missions with
discrepancies all the time. One perhaps more
interesting example is when the jet is showing
that the tolerances for oil consumption have
been exceeded. Why interesting? Because
the fix requires an engine mechanic, one
qualified to conduct ground runs, to start up
and run the GE F414-GE-400 engines until
they are up to temperature, which allows the
maintenance team to verify the oil level and
perform a service if required; engine servicing
has to be completed while the engines are
warm.
Regular calendar-based maintenance
occurs every 14 days and more in-depth
inspections every 28 days. The 14-dayinspection includes washing the aircraft
to prevent corrosion and lubrication of all
mechanical moving parts such as the landing
gear and tail hook. The 28-day inspection
comprises removal of the centerline external
fuel tank if installed, and cleaning the bomb
racks on each installed station before re-
installing the external fuel tank. Work also
includes testing the dry bay fire suppression
system and inspecting the Sea Water
Activated Release System on the ejection
seats. The 28-day inspection also includes
the next 14-day, so there are two inspections
every 28 days.
Other, day-long inspections include basic
servicing of the aircraft and the ALQ-99
jamming pods.
During AIR International’s visit to Whidbey,
VAQ-129 had a number of jets in its hangar
each undergoing different stages of calendar
and hourly based or phase inspections; most
were undergoing phase maintenance. The
Growler’s phase cycle is 800 flight hours and
comprises four inspections labelled A, B,
C and D that are performed in succession
at the 200-hour point. No other level of
maintenance is conducted on the squadron;
deep maintenance is performed by the Fleet
Readiness Center Southwest at Naval Air
Station North Island, California every three
years in two phases.
In addition to calendar and phase-based
requirements, the maintenance department
also has to handle updates to the aircraft,
most notably software. Each new release
of High Order Language (HOL) (Operational
Flight Program) software not only needs
loading on the aircraft but also requires
additional work, typically on the flight
controls, which need rigging and re-inputting.
This is conducted by VAQ-129’s airframe
work centre.Training maintainers
Many of the maintainers arriving on VAQ-129
fresh from a US Navy technical school have
never previously worked on an aircraft. Each
work centre has a qualification system and
different qualifications that each sailor must
achieve in order to be assigned to a work
centre: for example, in tyres and brakes,
hydraulic fluid contamination analysis,
ejection seats and engine running.
After three years of building up their
qualifications, many of the trainees are
rotated to the front-line squadrons, while
others stay on 129. According to CPO
Hawver, everybody who comes to 129
attends a school to gain a Navy classification
code, a requirement to work on the aircraft
and achieve higher qualifications: “With 129,
they receive hands-on operational training
and how to work on the flight line, something
they do not receive at technical school.”
Despite a 400-strong maintenance
department, as a training squadron many of
VAQ-129’s junior enlisted ratings lack varying
levels of experience, so the squadron works
a team concept. Each junior rating is paired
up with someone with a lot more experience
to shadow and to learn by watching and
doing under the instructions and supervision
of this mentor. The burden of the training
role does slow the maintenance department
down very slightly, but is essential for the
future ranks of the Navy.Viking 511 makes an arrested landing aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) during carrier qualifications off
the coast of Southern California. Midshipman Noah Rodman/US Navy