Taking the High Ground
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - Skip Robinson
Since the Canadian Forces purchased six CH-47Ds from the U.S. Army, its personnel have been training with National Guard units throughout the U.S., including mountain training with B Company of the 1st Battalion, 126th General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) out of Stockton, Calif.
In 2008, when the Canadian Forces decided to purchase six Chinook D-model helicopters from the United States Army to support its operations in Afghanistan, it had been 16 years since it had sold its previous Chinooks to the Netherlands (see p.8, Canadian Combat Helicopters in Afghanistan supplement, Vertical, Dec'10-Jan'11). Consequently, there was no current Canadian Air Force experience on the CH-47 — no pilots, instructors, flight engineers, maintainers or avionics techs who had flown or worked on Chinooks. And, because Canada's only Chinooks were the ones actually in Afghanistan, there was no way for personnel to train on the CH-47D (Canadian designated CH-147D) in Canada.
To overcome this hurdle, the Canadian Forces began working with the U.S. Army and National Guard (see p.14, Vertical 911, Spring 2010). As a result, Canadian pilots and maintainers now attend U.S. Army qualification courses for their initial Chinook training, then go through a "Canadian seasoning program" at an Army National Guard flight facility. This seasoning program is spearheaded by the National Guard Bureau at the U.S. Department of Defense, which organizes the training through different states depending on operational tempo and aircraft availability.
Built to Suit
Although the seasoning program has a loosely followed curriculum, B Company of the 1st Battalion, 126th General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB), California Army National Guard, based out of Stockton — prefers to develop a training schedule based on an individual aviator's proficiency and what he or she would like to learn or practice. As one instructor pilot with B Company, who are known as the Delta Schooners, explained, "Whereas one pilot may want to simply work on [basic] tasks, others may be ready to jump into graduate-level maneuvers such as NVG [night vision goggle] dust landings with an external load."
The typical seasoning program is a two-week curriculum that follows the "crawl, walk, run" process. The training program has evolved quickly since 2008, and includes all personnel involved in the Chinook program, from maintainers and avionics technicians, to production control clerks and maintenance officers. On the operations side, training is given to pilots and flight engineers (FEs). Said the B Company instructor pilot, "It's nice when they bring their own FEs, since they have slightly different 'call and response' techniques, and they can help communicate with the American crews when Canadian crewmembers are speaking in French."
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