Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Katherine Hofman | U.S. Air Force General Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense...... read more read more
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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Military officials from Thailand are observing airmen from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves training for use of the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System at the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center in Greenville, S.C., this week.
Thailand has had C-130 aircraft since the early 1980s and has equipped them with a MAFFS unit to fight forest fires for the last 10 years, supplementing their BT-67 aircraft used to fight forest fires by attaching a tank to the bottom of the aircraft.
"The Thailand government requested training through the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserves due to personnel turnover leading to a shortage of qualified crewmembers," said CMSgt. Jim "Spike" Riley of the Colorado Air Force Reserves.
Colorado Air Force Reserve members went to Thailand to train and certify pilots and loadmasters to perform the MAFFS missions.
Thailand sent eight members of the Royal Thai Air Force to attend the MAFFFS training exercise in Greenville, S.C., including pilots of firefighting aircraft, lead plane pilots, ground personnel and a special operations officer.
"We would like to attend this event yearly in the future to share techniques and lessons learned," said Group Capt. Nimit Kraigatoke of the Royal Thai Air Force.
The MAFFS training exercise is used to prepare and certify military flight crews rotating flying time, performing maneuvers to prepare them for the unique challenges which entail the MAFFS mission such as low-level flying through gorges and over mountain sides and the intense pace of repeated drops and refills of fire retardant in rapid succession.
| Date Taken: | 04.30.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.30.2010 14:01 |
| Story ID: | 48951 |
| Location: | GREENVILLE-GREER APT, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 389 |
| Downloads: | 308 |
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