Staff Sgt. Andrew Bauer of the CH-46 program office is the Naval Air Depot Cherry Point’s Aviation Safety Pro of the Month.
Bauer was nominated by Glen Schwarz, H-46 quality assurance specialist.
Bauer serves as a CH-46 crew chief. In this capacity, some of his many duties include interacting with the artisans, engineers and contractors of the H-46 program, as well as testing aircraft in-flight before they leave the depot on their way back to the Fleet. During testing of an aircraft that was having problems balancing the rotor system for a few weeks, Bauer located a problem with the helicopter’s swashplate, a critical component that allows the pilot to adjust the pitch, or angle, of the blades while maintaining proper rotation.
After replacing the defective swashplate on the first aircraft, Bauer’s insight led to the discovery and repair of two other aircraft with the same problem, eliminating weeks of troubleshooting and testing.
Without Bauer’s discovery, the rotor systems with the defective swashplates would have never balanced correctly, which could have caused the swashplate to fail completely and endanger the aircraft.
“There is no supprise at all that [Staff Sgt. Bauer] was selected for this award,” said Maj. Mark Pickett, H-46 program officer. “This is what I have come to expect from Marines of his caliber.”

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Staff Sgt. Andrew Bauer, a native of Safellite Beach, Fla., stands in front of a CH-46 helicopter that recently arrive at the depot for scheduled maintenance. Bauer has been a CH-46 crew chief for more than nine years in the Marine Corps. (Photo by Rocco DeFilippis)