Rc Crew Chief Download
Mirtha Hinrichs
I was reading yet another book on Huey Helicopter Pilots in the Vietnam war and Pilots almost always mention the Crew Chief and his role. How he would be prepping the aircraft for the next days flight or even checking on it when in a temporary location for a few hours.
Just curious where would one find information on what the crew chief was doing to the Huey. I'm fascinated to know... and I'm wondering if their was a standard crew chief checklist/manual something or other they used to make sure they did everything they were suppose to.
I am retired from 25 years in the army. I was not a Helicopter crewman, but many many hours flying in helicopters all over the world on numerous operations, including as a Master parachutist (jumpmaster). My brother-in-law just retired last month from 25 years in the Army as a Helicopter mechanic/crewchief/maintenance supervisor, and two of the guys I fly with in DCS..best friends, are current helicopter pilots (including one ex UH1 pilot). So from my observation of crew chiefs and to augment whats been said above I'll pitch in the following. (And by the way what I am saying likely goes for every flying machine as well)
The Huey like any other piece of military equipment, had at the time a number of levels of maintenance, this was known as -10 (unit) -20 (direct Support) -30 (General Support) -40 (depot). The army today has consolidated this into two levels of maintenance. Crew chiefs would be responsible for -10 maintenance and seeing their birds up to -20 or above when necessary.
First off, the fact that the helicopter even works, is fueled and armed, and is ready to go flying is completely the responsibility of the crew chief. The crew chief owns the aircraft, and oversees anything done to the bird by other sections of the maintenance team (Avionics power plant etc). He maintains the critical -10 logbook that has the record of everything the helicopter ever did or had done to it. Without this logbook present, the helicopter is Not going anywhere regardless of the situation.
During the mission briefing the crew chief receives the mission and configures the helicopter for the mission. Ensure serviceability per the manual checklists. Mount the appropriate armament. Remove doors or Seats, add a winch, or sling loading equipment, etc etc. He does that himself or supervises the guys that are doing it, checking all the work done to makes sure everything is operational and safe. Even little touches like ensure that there extra water, rations, ammo, toilet paper, whatever. HE makes sure the windows are clean. He preflights the bird. If a pilot comes out to preflight the bird, and finds something wrong it is literally the crew chiefs ass.
When troops or supplies are loaded, he oversees this, ensuring proper CG and avoiding dangerous overloaded conditions. He makes sure that Joe Snuffy is not doing something unsafe in the back of the AC such as fingering f**king his trigger or has his rifle off safe. He communicates with the pilot when everything is set for take off.
In the air the crew chief is another set of eyes and calls out aerial contacts, direction and distance to the crew so there are no midair collisions. They help navigate. They pass info on to the passengers including the jumpmaster if its an airborne operation. They also man the door guns if they are on.
They look out for obstacles on landing especially in directions the pilot cant see like below the airframe and the tail rotor. Upon landing they ensure the load gets out, supplies or personnel. they inspect new personnel coming in to ensure everything is safe..".hey you what the f are you doing with a grenade attached to your vest by a pin, get off my bird!" etc.
If the aircraft lands at a FARP, the crew chief gets out, ensure everything is safe and oversees refueling or other rearmament. Its his plane, no one does anything to it unless he says they can. If the bird shuts down he does the after flight check list, which depending on length of stay may include tieing down the ac rotors, covering intakes etc. He gets the manual out and conducts PMCS (Preventive maintenance checks and services ) on the bird to ensure it ready to take off again when the word comes down. He recleans the windscreen After all this is done, then the can grab something to eat. By this time, the pilots have long ago gone somewhere to chill out while he is still working.
If there is any problem with the helicopter, he determines what it is, and fixes it if he can, if not he contacts company maintenance to coordinate to have tools or the maintenance bird sent out to fix it. He coordinates the recovery of his damaged aircraft it can be recovered.
The crew chief knows all the quirks of his bird. I witnessed this scene once on an AC130. We were doing training with them and half our team stayed on the ground to practice calling in strikes while the other half got a rare treat to ride in the bird. The relevant bit to this thread:
The pilots were having a hard time starting the bird, this one was at the time AC130a and the oldest gunship in the air force. They couldn't get one of the engines started, it kept on "fogging" which is laymans terms I think is something akin to flooding. When this happens you have to shut down and wait x amount of minutes before retrying. If it happens again you have to wait double the time to try again, if it happens three time you are not going flying that day.
The senior crew chief was not on the AC at the time he had given up his slot to make room for us, and there was an air show starting that weekend so planes were starting to come in and he was hanging out at the airfield. The crewchief was a gruff and barrel chester senior NCO, maybe 25 years experience, and he was quite annoyed at the pilots...giving his opinion over the intercom on what they were doing wrong. He finally told them on the last attempt to jiggle a certain throttle a certain way . They followed his direction exactly and the engine finally started. He then proceeded back to the NCO club for a beer with some old friends while we went flying. That's the level of knowledge a crew chief has for his aircraft...all the little quirks!
This. No idea where you'd get that from. Crew Chiefs are maintainers, they are not flight school drop outs. They didn't go to flight school. They don't just check fluid levels. They perform the maintenance on the engine and airframe. They are the equivalent of a civilian A&P. In flight crew chiefs act as a door gunner.
I was an AH-64A crew chief for 6 years and have been an Mi-17 crew chief for the last 10 years. What I will add to the conversation is that yes, there is a checklist that we follow for "daily" inspections. After a while with the same aircraft you start to know what things need more attention than others. When I was in the Army, I was assigned to a particular Apache and if anyone wanted to know the status of the aircraft, they came to me. I was responsible for the logbook and keeping all the paperwork in order as well as performing maintenance on the aircraft. Of course, I also helped the other crew chiefs with their maintenance as necessary.
A 35th Fighter Wing crew chief waits for a jet to taxi to the runway at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Feb. 23, 2022. DCCs take direct responsibility for maintaining a single aircraft that they launch, recover, inspect, and troubleshoot. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antwain Hanks)
U.S. Air Force Col. Jesse J. Friedel, 35th Fighter Wing commander, prepares to perform a pre-flight inspection alongside the dedicated crew chief at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Feb. 23, 2022. The relationship between the F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot and the crew chief instills immense trust. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antwain Hanks)
U.S. Air Force Col. Jesse J. Friedel, 35th Fighter Wing commander, prepares to perform a pre-flight inspection with a crew chief at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Feb. 23, 2022. The relationship between the F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot and the crew chief instills immense trust. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antwain Hanks)
Airman 1st Class Aquil Hickman, 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, removes a ladder from a jet at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Feb. 23, 2022. DCCs take direct responsibility for training and developing newer crew chiefs. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antwain Hanks)
Crew Chief name painted on the side of an F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 13th Fighter Squadron at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Feb. 23, 2022. Pilots presented a coin, certificate and patch to the dedicated crew chiefs during the ceremony. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antwain Hanks)
Staff Sgt. Ryan Gurrieri 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chiefs (DCC), preps jet before a flight at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Feb. 23, 2022. DCC take on the direct responsibility of maintaining a single aircraft that they launch, recover, inspect, troubleshoot and maintain. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antwain Hanks)
U.S. Air Force Col. Jesse J. Friedel, 35th Fighter Wing commander, congratulates Staff Sgt. Ryan Gurrieri, 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chief and Airman 1st Class Aquil Hickman, 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, at a Dedicated Crew Chief ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Feb. 23, 2022. This tradition allows pilots the first chance to directly interact with the individuals who maintain the aircraft they fly. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antwain Hanks)
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