Helicopters at Naval Station Norfolk damaged after strong thunderstorms roll through Hampton Roads
Strong thunderstorms impacted Hampton Roads and parts of the Outer Banks Tuesday afternoon.
www.wavy.com
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“Helicopters at Naval Station Norfolk damaged after strong thunderstorms roll through Hampton Roads, parts of OBX Tuesday”
- Thread starter KODAK
- Start date
www.wavy.com
Remember when a supercell just happened to pass over Whiting Field with grapefruit-sized hail, dent the shit out of everyone's cars, break a few windows, flood the entire top floor of the BOQ, and put most of TAW-5's fleet down for major MX within minutes?
Pepperidge Farm remembers . . .
Pepperidge Farm remembers . . .
Yeah for real. What a crap day for a lot of people.
hlg6016
A/C Wings Here
I've had the dubious pleasure of standing on the MCAS Futenma flightline watching one of these roll in from the East China Sea. It set off a scramble of tow teams running in circles.
Helicopters at Naval Station Norfolk damaged after strong thunderstorms roll through Hampton Roads
Strong thunderstorms impacted Hampton Roads and parts of the Outer Banks Tuesday afternoon.
www.wavy.com
Updated with photos:
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
At what point, or type of damage would they send it back to the manufacturer, or is that something even done?
Based on seeing similar things happen with GA aircraft, I would think most of these airframes are repairable. However the MH-53's were procured in the 1980's and maybe this is the point that forces HM to decommision as a capability.
The manufacturer doesn't really do repairs, though their engineering teams may consult with the NAVAIR depot level folks, who are qualified to assess damage and do major structural repairs. Sometimes, they can work miracles. Other times, a relatively small defect in the right place can be a show-stopper that leads to the aircraft being stricken.
A retired Big Iron driver in the office said the same thing happened in 1987/88. At that time they had Sikorsky build a new tail for one of the 53s, but in 2022... probably not so much.
The Sierra line ended production years ago. Romeo is still running, but primarily for FMS, and we already have lots of birds in preservation. IF it's as bad as it looks, I'd expect strike over major repairs.