Air Base Commander Gets Flight Experience on SAC-03

Szöveg: Annele Apajakari | 2011. július 18. 10:51

On July 12, Colonel Miklós Domonkos, (Hungarian Defence Forces), the Commander of the Pápa Air Base had his first flight on board of one of the C-17 aircraft executing local training flight with Colonel Keith Boone (United States Air Forces), Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) Commander.

During the five hour local training flight, including night operations with night vision devices, Colonel Domonkos was able to get an insight into the job done by the HAW personnel.

“This flight gave me a possibility to gain hands-on experience about the way missions are prepared and carried out: approaching the airfield, landing within assault landing distance, offloading cargo or passengers and leaving the combat area as soon as possible", said Colonel Domonkos.

“Definitely a safe, comfortable and useful experience that gave me better understanding of the system as a whole and how missions are supported from the ground", he says.

Close cooperation between HAW and the Hungarian Air Base is vital to the missions. “I was able to check from an aerial perspective the effectiveness and precision of local Hungarian military personnel in the Pápa Air Base: air traffic controllers, meteorological service, fire service, medical and logistic support, operational capability of lighting equipment and so on", stated Colonel Domonkos.

“Furthermore, it was great to see Devecser and Kolontár from a birds’ eye view. The base personnel worked hard together with other Hungarian troops last autumn when the red sludge disaster occurred in this area", Colonel Domonkos concluded.

Colonel Boone added, “I view the relationship between the HAW and Pápa Air Base as foundational to our mission accomplishment. What better way for the Base Commander to understand our mission than to fly with us and see it firsthand. It was an exceptional opportunity for teambuilding between our two units and I am extremely pleased Colonel Domonkos took the time to join us for this training."

The Heavy Airlift Wing provides C-17 strategic airlift for the 12 participating nations in the Strategic Airlift Capability – Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United States of America.