BAGHDAD — The U.S.-led coalition as well as the Iraq Air Force have
been struggling maintaining their helicopter fleets amid the harsh winter.
Officials said combat helicopters in Iraq require much greater
maintenance than in most other countries, Middle East Newsline reported. They cite the sharp change in
temperature that affect helicopter hydraulics.
"With the weather, it's a constant battle back and forth," U.S. Marine
Master Sgt. James Francis, the chief of maintenance control at Helicopter
Squadron 266, said. "The temperature change is so dramatic from day to night
that the hydraulics are constantly expanding and shrinking."
Officials said even U.S.-origin helicopter platforms that operate in
neighboring Jordan have struggled to fly in Iraq. They cited the UH-1 Huey
utility helicopter transferred by Jordan to the Iraq Air Force. The Huey
could not operate properly in the searing Iraqi summer heat.
Despite expert maintenance, the U.S. military has struggled to operate
its older helicopter fleet. The Medium Helicopter Squadron spends 13 hours
of maintenance for every one hour of flight of the CH-46 utility helicopter,
first produced in the early 1960s.
Iraqi winters have challenged the squadron's maintenance abilities. They
said the CH-46 flies about 900 hours per month from its base in Al Asad,
Iraq.
"We don't just wing it, the process is very systematic," Gunnery Sgt.
David Leonard, a Marine flightline mechanic, said. "We're flying a lot of
hours every month, so it's intense, but we get it done."
