ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The need for hands-on training on CH-47 "Chinook" helicopters recently brought Canadian Air Force aircrews here to the New York Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility #2.
Aviation Soldiers from Company B, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation, who returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan in April 2008, used their Chinooks and some upstate New York snow to train the Canadians on Afghan flying conditions.
The snow was a stand in for the ubiquitous Afghan dust, explained Capt. Eric Fritz, 3-126 instructor pilot. Fritz put together a two-week training program to prepare the Canadians for an upcoming Afghan deployment.
The members of the Canadian Forces 408th and 430th Tactical Helicopter Squadrons will be operating Chinooks in theater. The Canadian aircraft are already 6000 miles away in Afghanistan and none are in Canada.
The Canadian Forces requested CH-47 training from National Guard Bureau. National Guard Bureau, in turn, tasked the 126th aviation Soldiers to provide the training.
"Everybody jumped at the opportunity to provide the training and transmit Company B's experience and information to the Canadians," said Col. Michael Bobeck, New York State Army Aviation Officer. "It makes everybody operate safer and allows us to accomplish the mission."
The first week of training focused on classroom briefings and battlefield scenarios and daylight flying operations. The second week was spent perfecting their night flying skills. The training plan climaxed with a simulated air assault. All training flights took place within 100 miles of the Rochester flight facility.
The effect of landing and taking off in the light snow fall around Rochester during the training period provided the Canadians with the same experience they'll get coping with ever-present dust in Afghanistan, Fritz said.
"The New York National Guard has been very accommodating because it's all been last minute for us," said Canadian Capt. Martin LeFrancois, 430th Squadron, Canadian Air Force. "Now that we have six Chinooks waiting for us in Afghanistan, the training program that they prepared for us will be really beneficial."
The Canadian aviators normally operate the CH-146 Griffon helicopter which is similar to the American UH-1 helicopter which was used extensively during the Vietnam War, so the training also served as transition training.