Flush the sand.

Now, more than ever, crew chiefs, daily inspections of your bird cannot be forgotten in the desert.

Sand finds its way into every nook and cranny of your bird. Take care of sand problems now to keep your aircraft mission ready in the desert.

Rushing 10-hour or 25-hour/14-day preventive maintenance inspections and pre-flights--or not doing inspections at all--will mean problems later. That could cost you more work later, or even a lost bird.

For example, desert sand wreaks havoc on an aircraft engine. To beat the sand problem, do engine flushes like your TM says, but do 'era more often in the desert. That can help increase an engine's efficiency. It won't hurt to have a clean engine every time your bird flies.

With a dirty engine, performance goes down. That's why sandy conditions may require more frequent flushes to keep engines up and running.

If you don't fight sand now, it means maintenance headaches for AVUM mechanics and even more work if AVIM shops have to repair damaged components.