[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 94 (Tuesday, July 19, 1994)] [House] [Page H] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [Congressional Record: July 19, 1994] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] THE V-22 OSPREY PROGRAM RECOMMENDED AS MOST COST-EFFECTIVE (Mr. WELDON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous matter.) Mr. WELDON. Mr. Speaker, Congress has supported the V-22 Osprey program because it is the right aircraft for the Marine Corps and it is the right aircraft for our nation. The V-22 has been consistently shown as the most cost-effective replacement for the Marine Corps CH-46 medium-lift aircraft. By ever standard of military readiness and safety, the CH-46 should already be retired. Because of continued delays on the V-22, we are now pushing the margins of acceptable risk with the CH-46 fleet and endangering lives. Consider, for example: For each hour that the CH-46s fly, mechanics must perform seventeen and one-half hours of maintenance; Each time a CH-46 crashes, the service spends $1 million and upward to salvage it because of shortages in the fleet; They can not fly as fast, climb as high or carry a full crew; During the 5-year delay in the V-22 program, there have been 14 CH-46 crashes killing 26 people. I have a Navy Times article outlining the problems in the CH-46 fleet, and I will insert it in the Record. The message is clear: every day we delay the V-22 replacement we jeopardize the lives of our soldiers in the field. It is time for the Pentagon to move ahead on the V-22. [From the Navy Times, July 11, 1994] How Long Can the CH-46 Last? (By Gidget Fuentes) (Due to time constraint all illustrations have been omitted) Several words described the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter: Workhorse. Vietnam-era. Obsolete. Museum piece. Overused. Sentimental. Determined. Aging. Tired. Venerable. It is a study in contradictions and a metaphor for the Marine Corps: Old and tradition bound, yet tough as nails and ready to fight. To infantry Marines, the Sea Knight is what gets them where they're supposed to go, picks them up from a hot LZ, hauls their mail and cookies and brings in reinforcements. Still, there are few places groundpounders dislike more than being in the belly of a helicopter that joined the Marine Corps a decade or more ago, before many of them were born. To her ``drivers,'' as helicopter pilots like to be called, the tandem-rotor Sea Knight is still a worthy aircraft. But they worry that the 46s are getting too old and that the outlook for a replacement aircraft seems to be perpetually 10 years over the horizon. But to the wrench-turning knuckle-busters, the mechanics who service these old birds 10 to 12 hours a day, they are creatures of remarkable endurance. Sure, they require 17 or more hours of maintenance for every hour of flight, they say. But as long as they're carefully and meticulously maintained, they can last, seemingly, forever. That's a good thing. The best estimates for a medium-lift replacement aircraft--most likely the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey--doesn't have it joining the fleet in large numbers perhaps as late as 2010. The H-46 was based on the Boeing Vertol 107 in 1961, and went into hastened production starting in 1962. The first operational delivery in 1964 went to HMM-265 from New River, N.C. That squadron, now at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, is celebrating its 30th anniversary July 29. ``It's not often an airplane sees 30 years,'' noted CW02 Joe Boyer, a spokesman at the Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Since the production line was shut down in 1971, even the newest 46s are, at 23, old in aircraft terms. Even with upgrades in the airframes, motors, rotors and other equipment on board, however, by most definitions these aircraft should be retired or retiring right now. Among military aircraft, the only ones that are older are the B-52 long-range bomber, which may remain in the fleet with new wings and avionics, the A-6 Intruder, which is planned to retire by 1999, and the KC-130 refueler turboprop, which entered the Marine Corps inventory in 1961, a year before the Sea Knight. Pilots and aircrews talk in amazement about the 46's steam gauges and vacuum tubes. Noted Cpl. Steven Barott, an avionics technician with HMM- 365 at New River MCAS, N.C., who was born the year after the last 46 was built: ``The 46 is getting older so a lot more things break more often.'' Adds a cynical pilot, noting that a replacement is not going to come anytime soon: ``My 6-year- old has an opportunity to do his first tour in the 46.'' jeopardizing lives? The H-46's age has many people wondering not who will be its next generation of pilots, but how long these birds will be safe to fly--and whether they'll survive until their likely replacement by the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. ``As good, as concentrated as the crews and the maintenance people are * * *, they're tying to keep birds that are 30 years old in the air,'' says James Tanner, whose son, Navy Lt. Michael Tanner, was killed Jan. 10 in an HH-46D accident 500 miles east of Bermuda. ``Why do we have to jeopardize people's lives, day in and day out?'' a costly priority The answer is plain dollars and cents. The V-22, which has been plagued by developmental problems--including a deadly crash in the Potomac River two years ago--is a very costly program, and it comes at a time when Congress and the Pentagon can't afford very many of those. During the Bush administration, then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney tried to kill the Osprey Congress refused, and ordered that development be continued. But the squabble added years to the development cycle. Now the Marine Corps is stuck with its CH-46s for another decade or two. And the question everyone is asking is whether the aircraft can remain viable for that long. As it is, Marine CH-46Es are already restricted in how much they can carry and how they can fly--so the aircraft are no longer capable of doing all they were designed to do. And lest Marines think they are the only ones on the short end of this stick, they need only look at their sister service: The Navy, which uses its H-46Ds for vertical replenishment, cargo handling and search-and-rescue missions, has no real planned successor. As of now, their replacement is supposed to be the Marine CH-46E. ``The aircraft is good, but you do outlive the technology at some point,'' said Lt. Col. Michael J. Bixiones, the H-46 program manager based at Naval Aviation Depot Cherry Point, N.C. The main challenge, he said, ``will be to compete for the limited dollars that are out there'' in order to keep the aircraft airworthy. A replacement is long overdue. ``We're going to have third- generation 46 pilots,'' said Lt. Gen. Richard D. Hearney, who is leaving his post as the Corps' deputy chief of staff for aviation to become assistant commandant this month. The 46s will be around so long that it's conceivable the kids piloting them in the next century will have grandfathers who flew the same choppers in the 1960s. the cost of being flight-worthy Keeping this aging fleet operational and safe until it can be replaced is the immediate priority for Marine aviation, officials say. But it won't be easy--or cheap. Mission requirements say the Corps should have 254 CH-46 Sea Knights. But the inventory is actually only 240, and there is no way to get more aircraft. Expected losses of one to two aircraft per year will further aggravate the shortfall. Just maintaining the current Marine fleet of H-46s through full replacement with the V-22--maybe not until 2015 or 2020 depending on production--will cost $500 million for budgeted upgrades and $1.6 billion if the Pentagon agrees to extend its service life with major overhaul. Not all that money is even budgeted yet. Since the choppers can't be replaced, each time a 46 goes down, the Corps must try to salvage it. As much as $1 million or more will be spent to make a single downed 46 fly again. As bad as things are for the Marine Corps, Marine 46 pilots have it easy. They fly the more modern--starting in 1974--CH- 46Es, which have more powerful engines than the H-46s flown by the Navy. The average Sea Knight has logged in 8,500 hours in its life, but continues to fly 400 hours or so a year because of high operational tempos. By the year 2005, it will have flown over 10,000 hours. By 2010, almost all will surpass 10,000 hours, its initial service life, and its maximum life will depend on a costly service life extension program. The 10,000-hour limit was an arbitrary number, however--an unusually high one for military helicopters, aviators say. One thing's for sure, say officials, Vietnam veterans and aircrews: They never expected to see the 46 reach that milestone. These geriatric aircraft, like aging people, are no longer able to do all they once could. Officials have placed strict limits on what 46 pilots can put their choppers through, fearing failure of the helicopters' rotor heads. For example: The 46s with old rotor heads--those with faulty pitch shafts--may not be flown faster than 110 knots (versus 130 knots it was designed to do), cannot bank at more than a 30- degree angle (versus 45 degrees) and cannot exceed 6,000 feet of altitude (versus 10,000). Likewise, the 46s can't carry the load they were designed for. No more than eight combat-loaded Marines can be carried at a time (versus the 16 the birds were designed to haul) and no more than 1,700 pounds of cargo can be carried (versus 4,000 pounds). A safe record And yet, despite all those shortcomings, the Marine H-46 fleet has stayed relatively safe over the past 12 months compared with several rashes of crashes over the past eight years. It has a lower mishap rate since 1977 than all but two Marine airframes. Only the F/A-18 Hornet fighter and KC-130 cargo jet have performed more safely. ``The safety record has been very good,'' Hearney said, crediting good maintenance, training and good commanders. Mishaps have occurred, some fatal, however, involving Marine and Navy helicopters. There seems to be no pattern of cause, ranging from pilot error, poor aircrew coordination, engine or transmission failure and cracks in rotor pitch shafts. Even with its extensive maintenance program, the H-46 requires about 17.5 maintenance hours for every flight hour-- more than the nine it originally required in 1962 but significantly less than the heavier CH-53 Huey, which requires 24. Mechanics spend 1.35 hours inspecting and maintaining the restricted rotor heads alone. Cpl. Brent A. Backus, a 24-year-old technician with HMM-264, said the typical preflight check takes nearly three hours and usually he finds some ``wear and tear.'' He added: ``You check everything.'' The CH-46 ``is still a super aircraft. It's safe. But it's time that we move on,'' said Brig. Gen. Fred McCorkle, commander of Marine Corps Air Bases East at Cherry Point and a Vietnam veteran who's logged more than 5,000 hours in the CH-46. ``I won't be sad to see it go.'' Not that it'll be going anytime soon, of course. The CH-46, often called ``the Frog,'' succeeded the single-rotor UH-34 helicopter during the Vietnam War and continues to be upgraded and updated today. But while modernization has helped, it's also blamed in part for the reduced amount of weight the choppers can carry. The ``Bull Frog'' variant--so named because of larger fuel tanks mounted externally on the chopper's stub wings--has greater range than the conventional Frog, but has even less cargo capacity. It can fly 411 miles instead of 236, but carries less cargo and has no ``over-the- horizon'' capability that enables a rapid, heliborne assault to defended beaches or inland locations from the decks of a helicopter carrier 50 miles at sea. Safety concerns with the rotor heads, which drive the helicopter's twin rotor blades and which have experienced cracks due to stress and use, resulted in operational restrictions imposed in July 1993 and additional inspections and maintenance requirements on the rotor heads imposed since the late 1980s. An H-46 with a restricted rotor head must undergo 18 special inspections of the head, assembly and even landing gear wheels. These helicopters must carry less weight, fly slower, fly lower, turn wider and be more closely inspected. Weight limits mean more sorties or aircraft are usually needed for a mission. During Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, a forward refueling point was set up in Baledogie, halfway from the amphibious ship Tripoli to the city of Baidoa, where the CH-46s hauled an infantry company. So far, nearly half of the inventory has the new pitch shafts and are no longer operationally restricted but must still do those special inspections. Those tactical restrictions have frustrated commanders. ``We need something a little bit more state of the art,'' Lt. Col. Tony Zell, HMM-264 commander, said in a slight understatement. Still, he said, ``it is the most versatile aircraft.'' New vital parts Starting next year, all Marine and Navy H-46s will get new critical dynamic components--rotor heads, drive systems, transmissions and pitch shafts--under the ``dynamic component upgrade'' program, or DCU, at a cost of $662,000 per helicopter. This program, already funded, is a blessing for all field commanders who've had to grapple with strict limitations on current, inferior rotor heads suffering from wear and stress. The new parts will be stronger and less corrosive with stainless steel to better withstand saltwater and sand, and eliminate the special inspections, Bixiones said. ``It improves the safety of the airplane, although it's not unsafe now,'' Lt. Col. Ron Johnson, the Marine H-46 requirements officer on the chief of naval operations staff at the Pentagon. ``Obviously it's in our best interest to make sure it's fielded as quickly as possible.'' ``We should have a restriction-free, inspection-free airplane,'' he added. Capt. John Dixison, assistant maintenance officer with HMM- 261 and a 25-year veteran, noted that the restrictions have denied younger aviators and crews some combat maneuvers. ``We've had to compensate with a lot of classroom in the ready room,'' Dixison said. The squadron will get the unrestricted heads later this summer, prior to deploying. Fixing for the long run Keeping the Sea Knight safer and flying will cost plenty, at least a half-billion dollars and likely some $1.6 billion if a service life extension program is needed to keep it flying safely until the Osprey enters the service in large numbers. These programs follow other replacement programs done in the 1980s. The money won't buy a new aircraft, Marine officials note. It won't buy more capability. It won't buy an interim replacement. What it does buy, they say, is enough safety to keep the Sea Knight flying another two or three decades. Officials are beefing up routine maintenance for all H-46s at 10,000 flight hours. Sea Knights go through regularly scheduled depot-level maintenance after every 1,000 hours in the air, and regular aircraft service period adjustment inspections every 12 months. These maintenance periods aren't cheap: Each depot-level checkup costs $500,000. Once CH-46s reach 10,000 flight hours, they're put through a more in-depth airframe inspection. The extra tests and repairs cost an additional $10,000, and so far four 46s have been put through the program. Another three or four more will undergo it soon, said Johnson. ``We have not found anything to date that indicates to us that the airplane can't go past 12,500 hours, but we don't know how far past,'' Johnson said. A service life assessment, now under way, will try to answer that question, he said. The $3 million study will be finished by 1996. Among the tests will be to take a CH-46 airframe and stress it ``until it fails,'' Johnson explained. ``Then we'll know exactly how many hours. . . that airframe can go to.'' The service life extension program developed after that study is complete will help determine the V-22 production schedule, because it will provide the most realistic outlook yet on how long the Corps can wait. ``These may include electronic warfare improvements, ground proximity warning systems, better armor, crash-resistant cockpit seats and a weight-reduction program,'' Johnson said. ``We intend to make any safety improvements that are necessary.'' inspections, inspections Meanwhile squadrons are burdened with the intricate task of inspecting the helicopter's crucial parts along with normal inspection cycles for such things as corrosion, fatigue, vibration and cracks in the airframe and in the engines. The task falls on tactical squadron and aviation support squadron Marines expert in maintenance, Hearney calls them ``in the trenches.'' ``These kids will do anything not to let each other down,'' said Lt. Col. W.G. Duncan, commander of HMM-365 (reinforced), which is now deployed in the Mediterranean on deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. ``They will work as long as it's required.'' After every 10 flight hours, Marines must conduct a ``nondestructive inspection'' of the pitch varying housings, which tend to crack and have been linked to several fatal mishaps. These control the pitch, or angle, of each of the six rotor blades. Often, squadron Marines deployed aboard ship have little room to do required inspections and maintenance. ``Ten- and 25-hour NDI inspection cycles, which are major problems ashore, become show stoppers once afloat,'' Marine Maj. Rich T. McFadden wrote as the logistics officer of HMM-264 after a six-month deployment in 1991. His comments were included in a report in the Marine Corps' ``lessons learned'' system. But squadron Marines swear by the aircraft and training. ``As long as we maintain it, it's going to last a long time,'' said Cpl. Brent A. Backus with HMM-264. ``I'd never second-guess the Frog. I'd fly it every day.'' The workload falls heavily on squadron mechanics, technicians and operators to do what many consider is miracle work to preserve the aircraft in this work environment. ``As soon as we get into a sandy zone, it's right where you started from,'' noted Cpl. James Raymond, an HMM-365 crew chief. Marines say they are working long hours, sometimes weekends prior to deployment. At the same time, they must keep current with volumes of safety procedures and repairs. Every repair must be researched, since ``you're not supposed to memorize everything,'' said Cpl. Daniel Simpson, an airframes mechanic in 365's metalshop. Making a repair without checking the manual may seem more expedient, the wrench-turners say, but if it's not done exactly by the book, the lives of the pilots and crew are in danger. Marines, particularly in understaffed squadrons, feel the heat. GySgt. Jon Eskam, a structures mechanic and quality assurance chief with HMM-365, said it takes a technician about 30 minutes to inspect the rotor pitch shaft, connecting link and housing, which must be done after every 10 flight hours, and a technician often inspects several aircraft daily. Like other helicopters, the Sea Knight requires many eyes checking for cracks and corrosion when it flies in less- than-perfect conditions. ``Gosh, it's always over water and in a dirty, dusty environment,'' said Eskam, a 14-year veteran. ``I've just seen as much wear and tear on these things as I'd like to see.'' So bad can it get, in fact, that Col. D.J. Lavoy, Marine Aircraft Group 26 commander at New River, stood down his group in late March ``just to give everybody a five-day break. We were getting tired, and there's a lot of hard work.'' No bone to pick The CH-46 community, like others in Marine aviation, suffers from delays in getting spare parts and parts repaired, Marines say. Getting parts is another concern with Marines. Cuts to operations and maintenance budgets and delays at depots mean some helicopters are down and inoperable until a new part comes--or one is taken from another aircraft. Sometimes, the aircraft are flown without the missing equipment--as long as it doesn't affect safety. Aviation officials cringe at the word ``cannabalize,'' noting that parts aren't normally removed from working aircraft. But squadron Marines say it is not unusual to seek the part you need on another chopper that's missing something else. One maintenance chief said doing that takes more time than if a part is ordered and received--but that if the aircraft must get airborne, they'll do whatever it takes. ``There's not a boneyard of 46s sitting somewhere,'' said Johnson. ``It's a juggling act to run maintenance,'' Dixison said. Between 10-hour and 100-hour inspections, daily missions and training, keeping aircraft ready is hard when there are parts still on order. ``I can certainly remember when they were more plentiful.'' The shrinking inventory just from normal attrition may force the Corps to give squadron commanders fewer aircraft. The CH-53D Sea Stallion, a leaner sister to the mighty, triple engine CH-53E Super Stallion, flies medium-lift missions, but its large size makes it an easier battlefield target and more difficult to place on a flatdeck amphib. So the salvage operations continue as long as the aircraft can be recovered. Gashes and dents are repaired with new skin. A CH-46E that crashed in a forested Hawaii mountainside last fall, for example, is being repaired at the Naval Aviation Depot at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, N.C., and the squadron expects it'll be back in the air. ``Crash-damaged airplanes are being repaired as quickly as we can get them back to the fleet,'' said Johnson. Sometimes damaged airplanes are ``glued together to make one whole airframe.'' It's a process that eventually would have to end for lack of 46s to salvage. But not in the foreseeable future. Noted Bixiones: ``I think the 46 will be around until the last one can't be repaired.'' ____________________