CNO safety award goes to VX-20

By BRIAN SERAILE
Public Affairs

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD—Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 20 has received the CNO safety award for the command’s Class A Mishap-free record in 2002.

A Class “A” Mishap is one in which damage to property, aircraft or UAV exceeds $1 million. It also includes if an aircraft is destroyed or missing or any fatality or permanent disability results from the direct involvement of a naval aircraft or UAV. Loss of a UAV is not a Class A unless the cost is $1 million or more.

The command’s safety goal of 100 percent mishap-free ground and flight operations was achieved during more than 4,210 flight hours.

Cmdr. Randal Black, VX-20 commanding officer, said he was proud of the award but noted that maintaining a safety record is a “never ending” task.

“The team has performed well in the past and we hope to continue in the future,” he said. “Your past is not a guarantee of future.”

VX-20 logged more than 126,795 maintenance man-hours and completed more than 14,315 maintenance repair actions on 25 permanently assigned and numerous transient aircraft.

Additionally, squadron members conducted more than 20,840 hours of ground tests and obtained 397 command-level flight clearances (airworthiness certifications to aircraft modifications), as well as 103 NAVAIR approved flight clearances.

These statistics alone do not convey the test complexities and risks that were skillfully managed and executed by the professional men and women of VX-20.

Test teams supported the fleet warfighting efforts by safely and successfully conducting tests such as the live Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response and Laser Maverick missile testing, as well as research, development, test and evaluation known hazardous Category D NP2000 propeller testing.

VX-20 continued to safely execute its mission of “Full Spectrum Flight Test for the Fleet” with an aircraft inventory that exceeds $800 million and includes eight different type aircraft. This collection of carrier- and land-based Navy and Marine Corps aircraft ranged from the Navy’s smallest aircraft, the T-34C Mentor, to the Navy’s largest, the E-6B Mercury.

VX-20 safely conducted flight testing locally, at sea aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and throughout the world in countries including Italy, England and Iceland.

—USN—

NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technologies through the efforts of a seamless, integrated, worldwide network of aviation technology experts. From aircraft and weapons development to carrier launch and recovery, from sensors to real-time communications to precision targeting, from aircraft and weapons sustainment to state-of-the-art training, NAVAIR provides dominant combat effects and matchless capabilities to the American warfighter.