Welders keep military helicopters flying

摘要

How many commuters drive-cars that last 30 to 40 years or use the same computer for 15 years and have both operating as they were designed because a profess signal pretentative maintenance program has kept them up to date? Every time a military helicopter that has gone through the Naval Air Depot Cherry Point is flown on a new mission, its flight is proving the viability of the Navy's pretentative maintenance program. At Cherry Point, N.C., 4,000 employees work within 1.5 million square feet of production space to keep helicopters flying as designed. Cherry Point opened in 1943 as an aircraft assembly and repair department, and ranks as one of the largest industrial employers in eastern North Carolina. Civilian, military and contractor personnel, working in a variety of skilled technical and professional positions, provide maintenance and engineering support to Navy and Marine Corps aviation units, and to the other armed services, federal agencies and foreign governments. The craftsmen at Cherry Point know how to maintain, rebuild and refurbish 30- to 40-year-old helicopters. These artisans are the type of people who go home from work to revive trucks, tractors, steam engines or Model A Ford cars. The Naval Air Systems Command operates two air vehicle repair depots, one in Jacksonville, Fla.; the other in North Island, Calif. The air vehicle repair depot in Cherry Point is under the command of the Navy's Marine Corps, and specializes in the repair and maintenance of hovering and short-take-off-and-landing (STOL) and vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) vehicles.