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Mi-171 advisor pilots provide training - day or night

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Lake
  • 321st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TAJI, Iraq --  A dozen Iraq Training and Advisory Mission-Air helicopter pilots are working day and night to ensure their Iraqi counterparts are trained and equipped to conduct missions that will ensure safety and security within the country.

At home, most of the American advisors provide security, passenger airlift and helicopter training on UH-1N and UH-1H Huey helicopters. Here In Iraq, 721st Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron pilots train Iraqi Army Aviation Command's Squadron 15 and Squadron 4 pilots to fly the American UH-1, B-407 and Russian Mi-171 multi-mission helicopters.

Capt. Christopher Hart, a UH-1N helicopter pilot from Kirtland Air Force Base's 512th Rescue Squadron in New Mexico, is one of six pilots who trains Iraqis to fly the Russian Mi-171MM helicopter.

Like most instructors here, Captain Hart went through months of "spin-up" training in the months leading up to his one-year deployment that began last summer.

"When I heard I'd be flying a Russian helicopter, I was excited about the challenge of training on a new system," explained Captain Hart, a seven-year Air Force veteran pilot.

For weeks at a time, Captain Hart and other instructors received training covering everything from language and advisory basics to specialized Mi-17/171 familiarization training to prepare for the mission downrange.

For nearly a year at Camp Taji, American Mi-171 instructor pilots have been sharpening the skills of several Iraqi pilots as they grasp another dimension of flight operations. While the younger, less experienced Iraqi pilots learn the fundamentals, senior Iraqi pilots take their piloting skills to another level -- flying with night-vision goggles.

"It's like turning off the lights and driving while looking through a pair of toilet paper rolls," explained Maj. Eric Vanley, an Mi-171MM instructor pilot deployed from Kirtland AFB's 512th RQS. "If it's semi-dangerous learning how to fly during the day, then it's much more dangerous learning to fly with NVGs at night. It's a slow, but very careful process."

The major from El Paso, Texas, said NVG training enables IqAAC to conduct night operations which increases their capabilities, and, if done properly, reduces their exposure to known threats in broad daylight.

With less than nine-months remaining under the current bilateral security agreement between the United States and Iraq, Major Vanley said the NVG flight training has entered a new stage with a long-range objective.

"Our focus now is to train the trainer, so they can maintain this capability after we're gone," he said.

Another critical long-term training objective is to synergize the Iraqi government's efforts to fight terrorism within the country and ensure security during key events such as the upcoming Arab League Summit.

Since January, the Mi-171MM instructor pilots have integrated helicopter training with the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Bureau.

Capt. Bill Root, a UH-1N Huey pilot deployed from the 37th Helicopter Squadron at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., integrates Mi-171MM flight operations with his Iraqi counterparts and Iraq's 15th Special Operations Squadron to bolster inter-agency communication, as well as tactics, techniques and procedures in urban and rural combat. The two organizations conduct joint training at least twice a week.

"During the last four months we've focused on introducing Iraqi special operations forces to the Mi-171 aircraft," said the six-year, Air Force veteran pilot. "Now we're orchestrating more advanced training - including live-fire exercises."