Monster Garage training device nears completion

  • Published
  • By Lee Ross
  • Nucleus editor
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  A training apparatus at Kirtland is expected to save the military roughly $1 million a year, once it is ready for prime time.

More than two years ago, one of the 58th Training Squadron UH-1N Program Managers, retired Tech. Sgt. Adam Lasher, found the body of a UH-1N, or Huey, that was no longer needed at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton in southern California.

A group from the training squadron shipped the helicopter to Kirtland and converted it from a Marine Corps training device to something that will suit Air Force purposes, according to Maj. Rob Faith, assistant operations officer for the Trainer Development Flight.

It will be used to teach Airmen to perform a variety of tasks, including preflight inspections and how to fix potential problems they may encounter.

Not counting the cost of transportation or man-hours required to convert the helicopter, the Huey cost about $3,000 in materials, Faith said.

Once it is in use, it will replace about six hours of instruction on a flyable helicopter per student. The current training costs the Air Force $12,000 per student, and about 100 students come through a year, according to Capt. Doug Price, the 58th Training Squadron UH-1N Pilot Program Manager. The new trainer will cost the Air Force very little to operate, he said.

The Monster Garage came into the helicopter by lucky coincidence, Faith said. The fabricators there -- known as "Hammerheads" -- had been looking for a Huey for some time when Lasher, who happened to be at Camp Pendleton, heard about one that was to be retired.

The helicopter the Hammerheads would remove has been in use for some time. Since around 1980, every Marine Corps UH-1N crew chief has trained on the helicopter, Faith said. The body of the Huey has plenty of dings and signs of extensive use.

Had it not gone to Kirtland, it would have ended up riddled with holes, Faith said.

"They might have taken it out and made it a target on a shooting range," he said.

If the Monster Garage could arrange for transportation, it could have the Huey for free, Faith said. Anthony Tapia, fabrication supervisor at the Monster Garage was one of a group of seven people from Kirtland who flew out on an MC-130H Talon II to move the helicopter.

Even though the old Huey had served its purpose for the Marines, a group of leathernecks gathered to see the helicopter, nicknamed "The November," packed into the Air Force cargo plane the fall of 2013.

"The Marines were ready to cry," he said. "They said, 'Oh, the November is leaving.'"

Getting the Huey into the MC-130H was no small task, though, Tapia said. The helicopter is nearly the width of the plane's cargo bay, he said.

"I couldn't go from the front to the back of the plane," he said.

The main rotor and tail were removed and placed under the landing gear and there were just three inches of clearance to the top of the cargo bay, he said.

"It was the first time we know of since (the Vietnam War) that a Huey was put on a C-130," Faith said.

The Marine Corps also had several parts that could be used for training on UH-1N repairs that were loaded up and brought to Kirtland as well.

The Huey was brought to Kirtland and reassembled. Fabricators then removed Marine Corps-specific components, such as flare dispensers and infrared countermeasure components.

Even those parts will be reused, Tapia said. Some went onto the classroom at the 58th Training Squadron, and others went to Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

The fabricators are nearly finished fabricating and installing all the Air Force-specific parts for the simulator, Faith said.

Once it is completed, the trainer will have to be inspected by those who will be doing the training and will finally be ready for use.

"Every UH-1 student, including mission pilots, instructor pilots, special mission aviators and special mission aviator instructors, as well as requalification or transition students will use this device," Faith said.