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Iraqi air force graduates first advanced flight safety officers course since 2003

  • Published
  • By Captain Brian Spliethof
  • Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission - Air Force Media Director
BAGHDAD --  Six Iraqi officers graduated Jan. 24 from the first Iraq advanced safety officer's course since 2003.

During the two week flight safety course the graduates learned about the human factor and aerospace physiology, flight, air traffic control and engineering to name a few taught by a partnership of U.S. and Iraqi speakers.

They also leveraged the knowledge of Lt. Col. Ala'din Al Ammari, an Iraqi C-130 safety officer with Squadron 23, who attended the international flight safety officer's course at the Air Force Safety Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., as part of the train the trainer concept.

The train the trainer concept is when someone is sent to a training course or school to be trained as an instructor then takes that knowledge back to their unit, squadron, or country to train others.

"It was great to see the Iraqi air force using the train the trainer concept in the area of flight safety," said Lt. Col. Andy Sellberg, the 321st Air Expeditionary Advisory Group flight safety instructor. "This course completes the cycle, since they've already attended the basic safety officer's course and makes them fully capable flight safety officers."

This course will allow the Iraqis to determine why an accident happened and gives them qualified experts on who to ask.

"This course is important to our safety officers, because as I learned in the flight safety course, I attended in the U.S... safety is always first because we don't want to lose people or equipment," said Colonel Al Ammari. "What we've done here is increase the performance of our flight safety officers so that in the event of an accident they can capture the main points of who, what, when, and why. This will allow us to prevent accidents in the future."

The Iraqis plan to repeat this course two or three times a year to maintain a steady flow of new flight safety officers and grow their capabilities, which will support the U.S. continuing mission to help the Iraqi air force build a self-sufficient, self-enduring organization.