San Antonio native conducts aircraft maintenance aboard USS Nimitz

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — U.S. Navy sailors serve and protect from around the globe, and every sailor got their start somewhere.

A sailor with ties to San Antonio is stationed aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. U.S. Navy Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd Class Aaron Mason was recently profiled while working maintenance on the landing gear of an E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft in the Philippine Sea. Mason can be seen above along with Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Milton Carroll, from Bryan.

The E-2 Hawkeye is the Navy’s all-weather, carrier-based tactical battle management airborne early warning, command and control aircraft. The E-2 is a twin engine, five crew-member, high-wing turboprop aircraft with a 24-foot diameter radar rotodome attached to the upper fuselage.

Nimitz is in U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.