Navy Squadron Earns Phoenix Award for Field Maintenance

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11/16/2012 10:07 AM CST

Navy Squadron Earns Phoenix Award for Field Maintenance

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2012 - A California-based Navy squadron is this year's winner of the Phoenix Award for field-level maintenance, part of the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards, officials announced yesterday during the 2012 DOD Maintenance Symposium and Exhibition in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 77 from Naval Air Station North Island was singled out as the best of the best among active and reserve organizations performing unit or field-level maintenance, officials said.

HSM-77 was the first Navy fleet squadron to transition to the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter. It provided Carrier Air Wing 2 and Carrier Strike Group 9 with combat-ready aircraft and equipment and executed the first MH-60R deployment to the 5th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility in fiscal 2011.

The squadron's maintenance personnel completed more than 38,000 work orders, performed 100,800 hours of maintenance, supported 7,168 hours of mishap-free flight hours, and executed 2,344 sorties with a 97 percent completion rate, all while achieving 84 percent mission-capable and 78 percent full-mission-capable rates.

Officials noted these accomplishments took place while HSM-77 was devising and implementing an extensive training plan made necessary by a 45-percent turnover in maintenance personnel. That plan resulted in the qualification of additional collateral duty inspectors, quality assurance representatives, and landing signal enlisted personnel, among others, to support an upcoming surge deployment, officials said.
 

Related Sites:
Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 77
DOD News Release