we got a brief on the ground -
1. Safety brief for all students and instructors on the dangers of rotary aircraft and a talk through of the various drills, landing scenarios, hovering, remembering the danger of rotor disc in relation to landing or hovering near sloped ground etc, ground effect, use of goggles, checking an LZ before heli arrival - we even had a couple of students instructed on how to do this and they actually carried out this role prior to the heli's arrival - marking of the ground with some sort of tell tales to assist the pilots judgement of the ground as they prepared to land (I think!)
2. static drills conducted first in one of the billets with seating arranged as it would be in the heli,
3. walk around of the aircraft and various parts which could kill were pointed out, operation of doors, parts of the airframe you can or cannot stand on when embarking or disembarking, told how to approach it, from the 10 and 2 positions to the front of the aircraft whilst the rotors are running, securing of bergans and weapons when on board, seat restraints, hand signals to watch for from the loadmaster and what they meant, the signal for opening the door - given whilst still in flight and then the signal to disembark.
4. drills on the heli when static , how to get the bergans out and then disembarking of chalk leaders on both sides, then the positions to send troops to the get in all round cover but also so that they were clear of the ground effect where possible, in the end it was pretty much as simple as getting into and out of a transit van, but a lot more fun, and a lot less noisy than the Allouettes.
AC personnel were very professional and seemed like they enjoyed it, they gunned the heli around the hills quite low and it was an impressive display of its power capability and lift advantages over the AIII's.
Comment