“While aboard USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE6) on 20 June at 1050 local, one of the ship’s crewmembers inadvertently activated the AFFF system in the aircraft hangar. HSC-25 Detachment One aircraft BuNo 166339, along with tools and IMRL, were directly exposed to AFFF for approximately eight minutes. Detachment personnel immediately began ERT procedures.” —AFFF Message By LT Jonny “Dozer” Kane
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n 2011, I was honored to deploy as the Detachment Maintenance Officer (DETMO) and Helicopter Aircraft Commander (HAC) for HSC-25’s Det One. It is rare for a pilot in the HSC community to deploy as the DETMO. However, because of a shortage of LDOs and CWOs in the squadron, I’d been sent to Atsugi, Japan, for DETMO school. Soon
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after I completed the course, my detachment was on the way out the door and headed to sea. Det One is one of the Navy’s last vertical replenishment (vertrep) detachments. In addition to the increasingly rare experience of vertrep, it was an exciting opportunity to learn a side of naval aviation maintenance that few junior officers are able to experience. The quote at the top of this article describes my first major incident, which occurred just a month into the detachment when an unintentional activation of
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