Admiral 2

Tim McElhinney shows Rear Adm. Kenneth Heimgartner helicopter lift beams and cargo hoist fittings that have been replaced due to cracks and corrosion.

Visiting admiral praises work of Depot

By Bill Bartkus
Photos by Joe Feliciano
NADEP North Island

CORONADO, Calif. – A visiting U.S. Navy flag officer, who saw how NAVAIR Depot North Island employees are working to help the warfighter to Reign Supreme and Return in Glory, was so impressed at the end of his daylong Depot tour that he immediately called the NAVAIR headquarters in Patuxent River, Md., to express his gratitude.

Rear Adm. Kenneth Heimgartner, director of fleet readiness in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon, personally called Commander Naval Air Systems Command Vice Adm. Joe Dyer and said, “They get it!” Heimgartner was referring to Rear Adm. Stephen Heilman’s decision to get 12 F/A-18 Hornets back to their squadrons to support contingency operations. Heilman is assistant NAVAIR commander for aviation depots.

Heimgartner also told Dyer how impressed he was with E-2C and C-2A modular shops, team building meetings, degrader tracking and the work accomplished by the Depot’s artisans throughout the plant. The two-star admiral started his guided tour by reviewing the command brief and attending the weekly status boards briefings. Depot Executive Officer Capt. James Woolway, and Plant Manager Bill Reschke then gave the admiral a guided tour of plant facilities.

In an email to everyone who helped to make the admiral’s visit a success, Woolway wrote, “I want to commend every member of the NADEP North Island team for the professional presentations. Inspiring pride was evident in every board brief and tour stop when our leaders, artisans, engineers and logisticians displayed total command of their programs, and our role in national defense.”