Support Equipment Gone Wild!
Navy photo by MC1 Robert Keilman
I hadn’t even touched the footcontrol pedal. “Why was this thing moving?” I wondered.
By AS3 Christopher Hawley
A
were parked side-by-side and needed to be moved one fter a successful and relaxing port of call in Malta, the first of three in the Mediterranean, at a time. I should have moved the T-5 Jenny behind the outboard MEPP, but decided not to make any more our ship made her way back into deep water. moves than necessary to get the job done. There was a Flight ops were scheduled to begin later that morning, clear path behind the inboard MEPP, so I moved that and it was my task to get the support equipment back one first. where it belonged, before the first launch of the day. I completed the pre-op inspection, using NA Having done this thousands of times, I thought, “What 19-600-300-6-1, and removed the tie-down chains and can go wrong?” wheel chocks. Since the equipment was near an AH-1 Support equipment had been moved from the helicopter, I had two yellowshirt safety observers assist hangar bay and was parked behind the island, in the me. I squeezed between the two MEPPs, sat in the bomb farm, to make room for a reception the ship had operator’s compartment, and turned the wheels to the hosted while in port. I walked behind the island to right to have a little more clearance between both units. survey the equipment and to formulate a plan. Two A/ S37A-3 shipboard mobile electric power plants (MEPPs) After starting the unit and achieving a stable idle speed,
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Mech
