Rear Adm. Tim Mat-thews, commander, Fleet Readiness Center, visited Fleet Readiness Center Northwest (FRCNW) Sailors, Marines and civilians and observed day-to-day operations, Feb. 17.

The admiral began the morning observing Colors as the Ensign was raised on FRCNW’s newly-installed flagpole. From there he proceeded to the conference room where he congratulated the AIRSpeed Core team led by Chief Aviation Electronics Technician Joel Green and George Wolcott on the command’s selection as the recipient of the 2010 Enterprise AIRSpeed Award. 

The annual award is administered by Naval Air Systems Command (AIR 6.7) and presented to the unit that stimulates a culture of continuous process improvement (CPI) through recognition of improved customer satisfaction, further integration between maintenance and supply, application of the AIRSpeed concepts, execution of the AIRSpeed enablers and deployment of CPI sustainment initiatives. 

The rest of the morning was spent visiting FRCNW major customers, Capt. Tom Slais, Electronic Attack Wing and Capt. Garner Morgan, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10, followed by a Green Shirt meeting and the kick off of the “first ever” Quarterly Maintainer’s luncheon. 

“It is an “exciting time in Naval Aviation,” said Matthews, speaking to the collection of maintainers. He went on to stress that there will be as many challenges as there will be opportunities.

In the afternoon, he visited the Pod Pool where Chief Jeffrey Wicker and his team manage critical ALQ-99 assets. From there Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Paul Donner led a tour of the future F-18G/ALQ-99 composite work center.

The day continued at the Power Plants division with Lt. Mark Logan, 400 division officer briefing Matthews on the newly installed “golden bearing” that is designed to readily identify wear on the four and a half bearing and ultimately prevent a mishap. 

The day concluded in Avionics Division where the admiral met with branch chief, Senior Chief Aviation Electronics Technician (AW) Larry Larson and the Sailors and civilians of the ALQ-99 transmitter shop. He was briefed by Aviation Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class Jeffrey Chrysostomides on an AIRSpeed project that combined three electrical work centers. The integration effort is projected to increase production and efficiencies through cross training.