In the last few days, a meeting took place at the Army Aviation Training Center (CAAE), the closing ceremony of the 3rd “Military Pilot Course”; an advanced flight training program for six pilots of the Austrian Armed Forces, carried out with a LUH-169B helicopter.
The event was attended by the commander of the Terrestrial Operations, General of the Army Corps Gaetano Zauner, the Deputy Director of the Directorate of Air Armaments and Airworthiness, the Commander of the Army Aviation, the Commander of the aviation brigade of the Austrian Air Force, Brigadier General Wolfgang Luttenberger, the Austrian Deputy Ambassador to Italy and finally the representatives of Leonardo helicopters division.
The 3rd “Military Pilot Course”, lasting eight weeks, took place at the CAAE and saw the flight instructors of the specialty train the Austrian pilots on the LUH-169B helicopter, recently acquired by Austria. During the program, the pilots completed a series of theoretical and practical activities, including mission planning, advanced maneuvers and flight techniques in complex scenarios with the use of both the flight simulator and the helicopter. An important part was dedicated to tactical flight operations at very low altitude, tactical night flight with the aid of goggles. Night Vision Goggle (NVG), landings and take-offs in snowy mountain environments, as well as day and night flight activities for transport and recovery of material using a rescue winch and barycentric hook.
The final phase of the course saw the six pilots engaged in a complex flight mission that also involved other aircraft and ground units, including the 7th AVES "VEGA" regiment and the 66th "Trieste" airmobile infantry regiment.
The ceremony seals a collaboration that began at the end of 2021 between Italy and Austria in the context of rotary-wing flight. Since then, the Army Aviation, with activities conducted both in the homeland and at the Austrian flight school in Langenlebarn, has ensured the advanced training of 20 Austrian pilots (15 of whom are flight instructors and 4 test pilots) and 8 aircraft technicians. All through 800 periods of theoretical lessons in the classroom, 120 hours of flight simulator and 850 hours flown with the LUH-169B helicopter of the Austrian Armed Forces.
The Army Aviation training center, the “mother house” of the specialty, conducts basic training activities for flight crews, pilots and on-board technicians, and for ground support personnel such as firefighters and medical personnel.
