Pave Hawk maintenance crews sharpen expeditionary skills

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Emerson Nuñez
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LEEMING, England --  Airmen of the 748th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron worked tirelessly to keep HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters mission ready for a 56th Rescue Squadron electronic warfare training event at Royal Air Force Leeming April 28-May 2.

Practice makes perfect for these missions, which is why 748th AMXS Airmen spent a week away from RAF Lakenheath in a mock deployment environment.

"Maintenance is vital in a deployed environment due to lack of time," said Tech. Sgt. Clane Shirley, 748th AMXS instrument flight control systems specialist lead technician. "If something is missed in any inspection, then there is a potential of a delay, during a rescue mission that is about to be launched, then that could cost someone their life."

Maintenance personnel execute routine checks before and after each flight to ensure minimal delays. This type of training is vital for maintenance Airmen to experience working with different time requirements.

"This training is good for crew chiefs since we are in an alert situation where we launch within several minutes instead of having the luxury of two hours," said Airman 1st Class Dylan Shephard, 748th AMXS crew chief.

While members of the 748th AMXS are training to successfully support an upcoming deployment this summer, their training can come into play at any time as real-world requests are made for combat search and rescue assets.