The Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit (CNATTU) North Island is providing increased training capability for fleet technicians on the H-60 Sea Hawk helicopter airframe, while at the same time minimizing dependency on fleet aircraft to accomplish that training.

Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Center (NATEC) technical representatives work with CNATTU North Island staff to provide real-time required training evolutions for fleet squadrons - Integrated Weapons System Refresher (IWSR) and refresher turn-around training.

According to NATEC Detachment North Island H-60 Airframe and Power Plant Equipment Specialist Field Engineering Supervisor Julie Link, training with CNATTU maintenance trainers allows Sailors to perform a maintenance task without taking a Ready-For-Tasking (RFT) fleet aircraft out of service.

Technicians will be able to accomplish training without the possibility of causing a problem on an aircraft that is otherwise ready to perform a mission.

Link also said that having North Island-area squadron personnel receive hands-on training helps familiarize new squadron personnel with their aircraft.

"If it weren't for the CNATTU trainers, some technicians would never get to practice a maintenance task before they are actually tasked with doing a maintenance procedure in the fleet," she said. "This allows the technicians to perform maintenance procedures under instruction with true-to-life aircraft components before doing these procedures on an operational aircraft."

One example is the rigging of an H-60 main rotor head, which normally takes up to 8 hours to perform on fleet aircraft, taking the aircraft out of flight rotation. By using CNATTU maintenance trainers, the training occurs in half the time and doesn't remove the availability of a valued asset.

Joe Meehan, the NATEC representative at CNATT headquarters in Pensacola, said this flight-line type of training helps ensure technicians are properly trained, significantly decreases down time for the squadron aircraft, and permits hands-on training scenario for fleet technicians.

"An average of seven North Island squadrons using the H-60 airframe deploy each year and hours saved, by using CNATTU maintenance trainers, is in the hundreds...all while ensuring increased fleet readiness with aircraft," said Meehan.

According to Link, NATEC used CNATTU North Island facilities to provide training on main rotor blades for composite blade repair, main rotor head flight control rig, tail rotor rig, differential angle protractor (DAP) on the main and tail rigs, hydraulic systems troubleshooting and schematic reading, spindle buildup, engine bore-scope training and engine troubleshooting, and auxiliary power unit (APU) training/troubleshooting.

CNATTU North Island is a training unit of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training located aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, CNATT develops, delivers, and supports aviation technical training at 27 sites located throughout the continental United States and Japan.

CNATT is a technical training agent for the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE), an organization designed to advance and sustain Naval Aviation warfighting capabilities at an affordable cost, and is the largest training center under the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) umbrella.

For more news from Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training, visit www.navy.mil/.