ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force

operational capability
TACTiCAL
TEST!
a series of big military transports, flying low and dropping carefully cushioned loads by
parachute, is a rare sight in the auckland region. But in recent weeks, during exercise KIwI
Flag, american, French, singaporean and australian transport crews joined rNZaF personnel
in testing their tactical skills.
dropping cargo from the back of a low flying c-130
Hercules or a big c-17 for troops on the ground
is a necessary skill relevant to operations in
Afghanistan—and even to scientists at the South Pole (where
snow conditions can prevent an aircraft landing). on this
exercise, however, a variety of practice loads were dropped,
ranging from large drums strapped to a pallet, to tractor tyres
and water ballast.
exercise kIwIFlAG 2012 was a tactical training exercise for
fixed wing air transports, held at RNZAF base Auckland and
conducted from 24 March to 05 April. The exercise scenario
was designed to provide tactical-qualified aircrew with
realistic exercises, in a deployed operational environment
and emphasising coalition operations. The exercise tested
intra-theatre air mobility techniques, including low level flying,
simulated airdrop, cargo and personnel airdrop, and airlandings
for insertion, or extraction, of personnel and cargo.
The New Zealand crews came to kIwI FlAG fresh from
exercise SkYTRAIN, which had been centred on the grass
airfield at Alexandra during February and early March. SQN
ldR Andy Scott (the detachment commander for SkYTRAIN)
12 Air Force news
said the earlier exercise was for ‘currency training’; keeping
personnel up to date with their training targets. The exercise
developed aircrew skills in map reading, low-level flying and
accurate timekeeping to ensure that the parachute loads were
dropped in the designated drop zone.
“we also conduct training for the support trades down
here such as parachute riggers and medics. on one day we did
training for aero-medical evacuation flights.”
The mock evacuation scenario included ‘injured’ people
on the camp who had to be transported in the Hercules. This
situation provided the opportunity for the medics to practice
their procedures away from base in an environment that
mirrors the real thing, in real time.
For personnel assigned on exercise for training purposes,
there’s very little downtime. It’s a gruelling day with three,
three hour flights. The preparation that goes into each flight,
and making sure all the training objectives are met, is immense.
each flight involves the standard aircrew of a Hercules —
pilot, co-pilot, engineer, navigator/air warfare officer and two
loadmasters. In addition to this team, the aircraft will carry
other personnel under training. overall nearly 30 flights were