Photo By Senior Airman Jackson Haddon | U.S Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft takes off for the Altus Exercise...... read more read more
The quarterly exercise is a test of the instructors and student aircrew’s training and abilities. For both instructors and students the goal is to be ready.
“A lot of bases have these annual exercises,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Cody Breau, 54th Air Refueling Squadron executive officer. “We face competing factors here at Air Education and Training Command because we train the students to fly the plane. Once they leave here they’re going to go to operational units. We need to be mindful that we, as instructors, are keeping up with operational proficiency and also that we’re training students to be prepared for the challenges they are going to face in an operational environment.”
As part of keeping up with operational proficiency, the KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft pilots used a different navigation method to reach their destination rather than the standard computers, compasses’ and radar.
“The 135’s are going out and doing visual flight rules training,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Ben Mendal, 97th Operations Support Squadron deputy chief of wing tactics. “We use buildings, rivers, roads, streams, whatever we can find out there that’s a big terrain or big visual feature. It’s good for us to practice because it’s another type of flying that keeps your skills sharp.”
In addition to keeping their flying skills sharp, the team also has to deal with real world threats along the exercise route.
“There are Semi-Automatic Missile systems, Air Defense Artillery, ground troops, pretty much everything that’s trying to fire at these aircraft when they’re flying around,” said U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Heather Moody, 97th OSS senior intelligence officer. The officers take a map of the mission and plot out the points where the systems are. Then the pilots practice evasive maneuvers when they reach those points on the map, to counteract enemy systems.
Planning the exercise is a matter of challenging the instructors experience, the students’ knowledge and the career field’s highest standards. The mission planners dedicated six and a half hours planning thoroughly through every detail of the exercise.
“We have to go into extreme detail so that everybody has a very specific idea of what’s going on,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Joe Waechter, 58th Airlift Squadron, C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft flight training unit instructor pilot. “That way there’s no ambiguity when something doesn’t go as planned, we make sure we have back up plans for back up plans for back up plans.”
While KC-135 and C-17 aircrews here at Altus are used to training side by side, they will soon welcome another mission partner.
“We’re excited about integrating the KC-46 into what we’re doing,” said Mendal. “It’s another weapons system to participate with the exercise systems.”
Whether its aircrews stationed here now or those that will be arriving with the KC-46, instructors and students at Altus are always ready to work hard and learn more to further the Altus Air Force Base mission of forging combat mobility forces and deploying Airman warriors.
| Date Taken: | 07.29.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.29.2016 17:50 |
| Story ID: | 205538 |
| Location: | ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 86 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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