Mi-17 Air Advisory Team in „Take-off Mode”
Szöveg: honvedelem.hu | 2012. november 5. 8:27The summer is slowly over and gives way to a quiet desert autumn. The nights are getting cooler, the daytime temperatures are dropping, and the sky sometimes lets some transparent cloudlets into the great blue. The landscape is covered by desert dust, and only the faraway bronze mountaintops suggest the huge distances to the viewers. Reporting from the spot.
Galéria
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We are at a US air base, which gives the hope of rise to the Afghan armed forces. The NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan (NTM-A) has developed this base to provide a wide spectrum of training programs – from language courses to the flying training for basic and higher aircraft types – so that it can contribute to NATO’s commitment to having the Afghan National Army (ANA) trained until 2014 for guaranteeing the security of their country as an autonomous defence force without external assistance. It is interesting to note that in recent weeks, the first female pilot of the Afghan Air Force made her first solo flight at the base.
The fourth rotation of the Hungarian Defence Forces Mi-17 Air Advisory Team (AAT) has switched to “take-off mode" in the recent period. Meeting the deadline set by the original plans, the instructors accomplished the mission by completing close to 50 flight hours over seven days. As a result of this, the first phase has ended in the training of some Afghan co-pilot and onboard technician candidates. Earlier the pilot candidates had received an approx. 200-hour training on light helicopters. The language proficiency and the basics of helicopter piloting they acquired were a great help to the work of the Mi-17 advisory team. Apart from their enthusiasm, the onboard technicians grappling with the language barrier are motivated by their desire to restart their career in aviation that they had abandoned for various reasons. They are helped in this by the simulator center satisfying all needs, which opened its gates lately.
The Hungarian instructors earned the students’ recognition and respect already in the first minutes of their meeting. Their thorough knowledge, decade-long experience and the unconditional acceptance of the culture all stand high in the trainees’ system of values. The increasingly complex tasks require thorough preparation and full attention of the trainees and trainers alike. Our follow-up report will focus on the task execution.
Photo: Lt.-Col. Miklós Szabó
