Mile high school days bring rigorous routine

National Guard, Nov 2002 by Prawdzik, Christopher

A handout provided to trainees to Colorado's High Altitude Army Aviation Training Site, or HAATS, in Eagle, Colo., says "Situational awareness is the key to all areas of aviation safety and is paramount for success in aviation operations in the mountains."

As a "graduate-level aviation training course," HAATS teaches helicopter pilots from every branch of the active and reserve forces something taught nowhere else in the world. It's a power management concept through which pilots learn how to fly in taxing terrain and conditions-terrain similar to the many military hot spots in which U.S. forces are engaged.

The one-week training course is a three-legged discipline that involves the aircraft, the environment and the aviator.

"It is the belief of this school to address situational awareness directly," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Troy D. Brown, a HAATS instructor and Colorado Army National Guardsman. Situational awareness requires the pilot to assess the surrounding environment and his own aircraft and personally determine its ability in challenging terrain.

A step beyond typical training, HARTS teaches a method that accurately predicts the power necessary for particular missions.

The most important power management aspect includes the use of tabular data. Tabular data is more precise and it allows pilots to "immediately and accurately" make performance decisions about their particular mission, Brown said.

According to Brown, HARTS teaches pilots to assess wind and terrain data; and based on their particular aircraft, determine performance ability for a particular maneuver. If the data doesn't support the maneuver, it shouldn't be done.

A recent report following a Pave Hawk helicopter crash in Oregon stated that tabular data-used in HARTS training-is much more precise and reliable for pilots to assess their aircraft's ability to perform in challenging situations than the graphical data used in other pilot training.

"If the aircraft is capable and the environment allows it, we want to make sure the pilots have the skills to execute the mission," Brown said. "What we do not want to happen is for the aviator to be the weak link."

Strengthening that link happens rather quickly.

A typical training week involves a Sunday arrival at the school. With billeting on site, up to 10 pilots can eat, sleep and drink HAATS training for the entire week.

After addressing various housekeeping issues the first day, training begins Monday with almost 10 hours of classroom instruction.

Students cover five topic areas:

1) Meteorology.

2) Mountain operations `en route, (flying through mountainous terrain).

3) Mountain operations for landing sequences.

4) Performance planning power availability.

5) Crash mitigation (contingency plans for crashes).

Using these topics as guidelines, pilots are taught how to accurately predict the power needed for a certain task. And they're also taught maximum use of limited power resources.

Instructors also encourage increased decision making ability, because power management training is particularly based on a pilot assessing his own power data and then adjusting-sometimes several times in one flight-to the conditions so his aircraft can perform.

After the heavy Monday classroom sessions, pilots meet for mission briefings each morning at 7:30, and then spend Tuesday through Thursday in the air, perfecting the HAATS training techniques.

Each pilot receives 15 1/2 flying hours in the cockpit, performing high-altitude "pinnacle" landings, ridgeline landings and additional work in confined areas-such as landing in a small-diameter area surrounded by high trees and heavy foliage.

Through this hands-on and intense training schedule, HARTS instructors want not only to develop power management techniques, but for these techniques to become habit.

For Brown, a two-week course would be more ideal because it's difficult to train pilots on a new concept, have them learn how to perform that concept and then have them feel comfortable with it and really get a feel for what they're doing. But current budget conditions won't allow it.

Although only taught at HARTS, the techniques can be used in any terrain at any altitude, from the peaks in Colorado to sea level. So trained pilots can continue using these techniques long after leaving HARTS.

A former standardization pilot at Fort Rucker, Ala., Brown's experience involves the entire spectrum of pilot training and is confident of the success of HARTS training.

"We take good aviators and make them better," he said.

-By Christopher Prawdzik