Kane'ohe Marines to replace aging choppers

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Sometime after fiscal 2008, Ospreys are slated to replace Kane'ohe Bay's fleet of CH-53D Sea Stallions, helicopters that are 30-plus years old and among the oldest in the Marine Corps.

First Lt. Tom Pohl, an aircraft maintenance officer, will eventually see the Kane'ohe Bay Marines' aging CH-53D Sea Stallions replaced by V-22 Osprey aircraft, which can be used in helicopter or airplane mode. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Corps' V-22 Osprey aircraft, with big, windmill-like propellers, or rotors, deliver troops faster and farther than helicopters but with a similar ability to hover and land.

Production of the Osprey — which can tilt its rotors up for vertical takeoff, and forward for fixed-wing flight — is back on track after being dogged by development and flight problems, including two crashes in 2000 that killed 23 Marines and put the program in jeopardy.

The Pentagon has approved production of 152 of the aircraft through 2009.

Officials previously said 36 Ospreys were destined for Hawai'i.

An Osprey training squadron was stood up at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina last week. The first operational Ospreys will replace older CH-46E Sea Hawk helicopters on the East and West coasts before any arrive in Hawai'i.

In the meantime, Kane'ohe Bay Marines continue to fly and fix the CH-53D Sea Stallion, the same Vietnam-era helicopters that Col. Greg C. Reuss flew 23 years ago as a new lieutenant.

"I could go to my log book and walk out to an aircraft, and I've flown just about all of these (before)," said Reuss, who now commands Marine Aircraft Group 24 and the last remaining Sea Stallions in the Marine inventory.

The base has 40 CH-53Ds in three tactical squadrons, and training, headquarters and logistics units.

The single rotor helicopters, which were consolidated at Kane'ohe Bay in the mid-1990s following a Marine Corps force reduction, are a challenge to maintain because of their age.

But Reuss said the Sea Stallions are extremely reliable and remain a capable aircraft.

"We're still in the fight with our capability to put so many people in the back," said Capt. Rob Garrison, 29, a Sea Stallion pilot with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362, the "Ugly Angels."

Marines here have become creative in maintaining what would be considered a classic if it was a car on the street.

Maintenance crews make several trips a year to a helicopter "bone yard" outside Tucson, Ariz., to retrieve parts such as engine cowlings that aren't made anymore.

Newer aircraft have television screens and digital readouts. The Sea Stallions have analog gauges. Although wiring upgrades have been made, Staff Sgt. Ryan Morris, who works in avionics, said '60s- and '70s-style handiwork remains.

"That's one of the main things that takes up our maintenance time — old wiring — fixing it and replacing it," he said. "I've done it for approximately eight years now and I still get challenged on occasion."

Although the maintenance time required for every hour of Sea Stallion flying time was 38 hours, Reuss said the total is now less with better trained crews.

What's inside the CH-53Ds is "not much different than was flying in Vietnam," Reuss said. "We've got some new radios, and we have some avionics equipment and re-wiring."

The Sea Stallions have a 10,000-hour flight service life, and "we're not there. We have time," Reuss said. "We can make 10 (more) years."

Garrison said several years ago, the CH-53D's top speed was 172 mph. That has been dropped to 150 mph, and the helicopters don't fly at such steep banks anymore.

"It's not that the aircraft can't do it — it's just to extend the service life on the dynamic components, basically the tail, the rotor system," he said. "We just don't put as much stress on them."

The CH-53Ds are armed with two .50-caliber machine guns and can carry 37 Marines — more if seats are added. They also have a good safety record. Reuss said the last crash in the early 1990s was because of pilot error.

But in a decade, it will likely be gone, replaced by the Ospreys.

The Marines plan to buy 360 Ospreys, Special Operations Command 50 and the Navy 48.

Garrison said he expects the Osprey will be a challenge to fly.

"It's going to be fast," he said. "It would be a little different — the controls work a little differently." And he expects a little apprehension.

"I think it would be the same for any new aircraft, a little anticipation," he said. "But as much work as they've put into it, I wouldn't be afraid it's an unsafe aircraft. I wouldn't hesitate at all."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.

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