Photo By 2nd Lt. Deirdre Salvas | U.S. Army Paratroopers and International Paratroopers participate in the International...... read more read more
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EXETER, RHODE ISLAND – Four New York Army National Guard aircrew members assigned to Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation, based in Rochester, helped bring the Rhode Island National Guard’s annual “Leapfest” competition back to the sky after a two-year hiatus August 2-9, 2022.
The aircrew lifted military paratroopers competing in the parachute competition up to their 1,500-foot jump altitude on board their CH-47 Chinook helicopter.
Hosted by the 56th Troop Command, the Leapfest International Parachute Competition is the largest, oldest, international static line parachute training event and competition. It’s routinely attended by military parachutists from around the world.
The New York Army National Guard aviators have been providing the transportation to the jumpers since 2011.
During Leapfest, teams from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force competed with teams from Australia, Germany, Italy, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Both active duty and National Guard teams from the U.S. participated in the competition.
The New York aircrew dropped a total of 129 jumpers during the event, flying 20 hours over five days.
“I've attended Leapfest as a pilot since 2017, every year I look forward to attending Leapfest for both the training value as well as the overall enjoyment of interacting with the Rhode Island National Guard,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Aaron Taylor, part of the crew for this year’s support.
Taylor was joined by fellow pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Adam Wilcox and crew chiefs Staff Sgt. Christopher Santiago and Sgt. Sam Sacco.
“For Leapfest 2022, I rank it as the best Leapfest I've ever attended,” he said.
The training over eight days included cold load jump training prior to every jump day, familiarization jumps with the foreign teams, a single High Altitude Low Opening jump with Special Forces members foreign jump wing exchange jumps and the actual competition jumps.
For the competition, participants were judged by their ability to land as close as possible to a marked, designated area within the landing zone after exiting the CH-47. Upon completing a parachute landing fall, participants are timed by qualified judges until they reach the designated area.
The top three winning jump teams all dropped from the New York aircraft.
The purpose of the Leapfest competition is to promote the camaraderie and “esprit de corps of the airborne Soldier through international competition, according to the Rhode Island National Guard.
“The best part of the mission was the comradery we built with multiple members of Rhode Island's airborne community, Rhode Island Aviation, and the foreign military personnel,” Taylor said.
Parachute operations require immense cooperation and communication, he explained. Pilots maintain a certain speed and track while managing when the jumpers are cleared to jump by communicating with the drop zone.
Meanwhile the crew members in the front left and right windows are responsible for airspace surveillance and watching for other aircraft, he said. Another crew member in the back is responsible for relaying communications between the Jump master and the pilots.
Leapfest provides a training environment like no other opportunity, Taylor said.
“The biggest gain to our training was the sheer interaction of the crew with the jumpmaster as well as communicating with the PZ/LZ controllers,” he said. “It seems like more and more, New York Chinooks are being tasked with conducting paradrops. Leapfest is a fantastic training event that allows us the chance to build our experience in supporting airborne operations as well as interacting with NATO military personnel.”
The paradrops are just one portion of the benefit of Leapfest particicaption, said Capt. Jonathan Peralta, the detachment commander for the CH-47s.
“Leapfest is a great morale boost to the crews to get in a real-world mission that is fun and low stress, but involves a good amount of attention to detailed planning,” Peralta said. “We have the opportunity to work with other CH-47 crews to crosscheck each other’s planning and procedures as well. Leapfest is an outstanding opportunity for the aircrews.”
| Date Taken: | 08.09.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.06.2022 13:12 |
| Story ID: | 428682 |
| Location: | EXETER, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, New York Aircrews Give Lift to Leapfest, by COL Richard Goldenberg, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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