On November 4, 2016, PCAM member and past Director of Acquisitions Mark Fajardin, Sr. headed out for NAS Fallon to meet associates with the Search and Rescue squadron, the “Longhorns”, to begin prepping the Museum’s Seahawk for transport home.
The SH-60F Seahawk at the Pacific Coast Air Museum. This aircraft is on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida.
Phase One included learning about the machine and prepping it for transport. First up was a maintenance class on the SH-60F to get educated on working with the model type. They then grabbed tools and hard hats and began work to remove all the rotor blades and secure them to a trailer for the long ride back to PCAM.
Mark and the rest of the PCAM team owes a very special thank-you to CWO4 William Gray, AM1 James Flores, and Field Support Rep. Tom Rush. We could not pull this off without their support, time, and energy in helping us save SH-60F 164456.
Phase Two was completed in late November, and it involved our great friends from Precision Crane in Windsor, California, who drove back out to Fallon with Mark and loaded the chopper onto a flatbed. Then they drove it all the way back over a snowy Sierra Nevada mountain range to Santa Rosa. It now sits adjacent to the Museum, ready for restoration. A special thank you to Bud Elliff of Precision Crane for his support in making our SH-60F acquisition a reality.
This SH-60F is on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida. It is in very good external condition. The interior is another matter as it is completely stripped out because it was originally going into Fallon’s air park. This turned out to be a blessing for PCAM in that if it were even semi-complete Pensacola would have assigned it to another museum. We now begin work to acquire the interior and missing external parts, so one day we can allow her to be an open cockpit aircraft.
Mark says this will be his tenth aircraft restoration in twenty four years, and it’s one he’s looking forward to as it’s his first helicopter. He’s assembled a small restoration crew. If any PCAM members would like to work on her just let him know.
