Sailors attached to USS Theodore Roosevelt’s (CVN 71) Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) and Weapons Department conducted load testing on aerial equipment, Dec. 11.
The testing helps prepare Sailors for operational conditions during the ship’s last year of refueling complex overhaul (RCOH). The testing included the loading of an AOQ-99 jamming pod and an AWW-13 data pod using a hoist. The equipment has not been used since TR first entered RCOH at Newport News Shipbuilding in August 2009.
“Today, we demonstrated how to operate the equipment that the shipyard has provided to us,” said Master Chief Aircraft Maintenanceman (AW/SW) Steve Newman. “We have a new configuration in our mezzanine – it’s more user-friendly and safer for our Sailors to use. We sent our Sailors to the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) to gain experience in our rate, but this is the first time we have used this equipment since 2009.”
Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class (AW) Amy Ricker of AIMD, one of the leading Sailors who participated, is one of the few Sailors in the evolution with experience in working the equipment.
“We load tested our hoist and made sure our systems were working, which include the rails and storage racks,” said Ricker. “This test was necessary so that, when we become operational, everything is in working order. We did as well as we could with what we currently have, and with many of our Sailors having little to no experience being in the shipyards and not out to sea. We did great.”
Because this evolution was the first exercise with AIMD equipment for many of the Sailors aboard, the testing was another big step for TR as the ship gets closer to rejoining the fleet.
“This was my first experience working in any aspect of my rate as an Aviation Electronics Technician,” said Aviation Electronics Technician Airman Adrienne Atkinson of AIMD. “It’s great because I’m learning what I will be doing out at sea, and I think I did pretty awesome for my first time. For now, I have to read up on my rate and get qualified, so I can do this when our ship becomes operational, and when my time comes.”
It was a good day for Sailors attached to AIMD and Weapons, according to Newman.
“Yesterday, we were Sailors rehabbing spaces and doing shipyard work,” said Newman. “Today, we were AIMD Sailors. This evolution shows who we really are and what we can do out to sea, and I’m pretty stoked about that.”
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, December 13, 2012; Image: US Navy