Load Diffuser 2017: Personnel Recovery of Downed Pilots

Szöveg: Péter Snoj | 2017. június 8. 9:00

The aircrews of two fighter jets are trapped behind enemy lines. The key to their survival is the action of friendly quick reaction forces and the skills of the pilots themselves. Luckily, this was just an imitated training session during the multinational exercise Load Diffuser 2017…

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Although Load Diffuser 2017 is basically a combined exercise for the fighter planes and pilots of participating nations, the planners of the international event had some quite special training sessions in store for the aircrew, who were able to practice their earlier acquired survival skills in the “woods" of Újdörögd.

Under a fictitious scenario, two two-seater fighters took hits that forced both aircrews to eject from the aircraft. The four downed pilots landed in enemy territory, so they had not only to conceal themselves until the arrival of the “relief force", but also to navigate to a given rendezvous communicated by radio. Meanwhile, the airmen at the HDF 59th Dezső Szentgyörgyi Air Base (Kecskemét) started a feverish planning and preparation in order to be able to locate and recover their comrades in distress. Before long they commenced the rescue mission, and so Hungarian, Slovak and Croatian Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters took off, carrying aboard the soldiers of the HDF 2nd vitéz Bertalan Árpád Special Operations Forces Regiment.

When the helicopters landed, the ground team secured the area and found the pilots who were hiding at a nearby location. During the recovery, it turned out that more than one crewmembers got wounded, so one of them was taken aboard on a stretcher. Their treatment started in the helicopter, their condition was stabilized for the time of the flight, and having returned to the air base, they were taken over by the medical staff.