Remembering How We Got Here
President’s cockpit / By E.J. Sinclair, Ret.: This year has truly flown by. In fact, it seems like the last nearly two years of my presidency has flown by. AAAA National President, BG (Ret.) E.J. Sinclair meets with the chapter-sponsored Soldiers attending the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit on April 29, 2016 in Atlanta, GA. Under the Professional Forum Soldier Sponsorship program, the chapter selects a junior Soldier and underwrites the travel cost of getting them to the Forum site; AAAA provides one room, registration and tickets to all events for the Soldier and his/her spouse. See the AAAA website...
Learn MoreURIs
Ask the Flight Surgeon / By CPT Erik S. Johnson, D.O.: Q: Doc, I always catch a couple of colds every year. When is a cold considered grounding and what treatments can I use? www.army.mil photo FS: Upper respiratory infections (URIs) such as the common cold are, well, common. While not everyone may experience them every year, most of us experience them at some point in our lives. It would not be surprising for an otherwise healthy pilot to experience two to three bouts with the common cold in a single fall-winter season. Due to their frequency, let’s take a...
Learn MoreUAS: Enhancing Army Aviation Capability for Multi-Domain Battle
Aviation Branch Chief / By MG William K. Gayler: During the past fifteen years of counterinsurgency (COIN)-centric combat where Army Aviation was a fundamental element of our Joint force overmatch, our enemies and adversaries took note and invested in their own capabilities to counter our advantages in continuous mission command and fully integrated combined arms maneuver. A U.S. Army Soldier assigned to 16th Combat Aviation Brigade pushes a Shadow Unmanned Aircraft System back to a maintenance hangar following a successful training flight at Orchard Combat Training Center, Idaho, Oct. 4, 2016. Over 1,000 soldiers from 7th Infantry Division participated in...
Learn MoreMaking Your Voice Heard
President’s Cockpit / By BG E.J. Sinclair, Ret.:We are right in the middle of our Fall busy season and the Christmas holidays are quickly approaching. COL Allan H. Lanceta, commander of Corpus Christi Army Depot, addresses the opening session of the 12th Annual AAAA Luther G. Jones Aviation Sustainment Forum Oct. 19, 2016 in Corpus Christi, Texas. / AAPI PHOTO BY BILL HARRIS Last month featured the AAAA National Executive Board and Scholarship Board meetings during the AUSA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC and the Senior Executive Associates led by GEN Jack Keane also in DC. We also held the...
Learn MorePrograms for Military Kids
Family Forum / By Judy Konitzer: I enjoyed the opportunity to attend AUSA’s Annual Meeting held on October 3-5 in Washington D.C. Not only was I able to network with many of the organizations that support our Soldiers and their families, but I also attended several of the Family Forums that were offered. Cherri Verschraegen, Chief of Army Child and Youth Programs at Installation Management Command headquarters, addresses attendees at the AUSA Family Forum in Washington, DC on October 3, 2016. / ASSOCIATION OF THE U.S. ARMY VIDEO CAPTURE One entitled “An Update on Military Kids: How Are They Doing?...
Learn MoreSmall UAS Human Factors Study
By CW2 Eric Roberts: Army aviation has a historical pattern of undergoing major changes, but the recent proliferation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is a cogent variation from the typical airframe upgrades, modifications or unit restructuring to which we have become accustomed. While larger UAS systems like Shadow and Gray Eagle function under Army Aviation branch, one of the most abundant groups of UAS known as small UAS or (SUAS) are most often placed in the hands of the barely trained junior Infantry Soldiers. There is no denying that SUAS provides vital capabilities for Infantry commanders, yet, is the asset...
Learn MoreCommand Flight Inspection Services
Air Traffic Services / By Mr. Steven M. Haag: Have you ever found yourself in an aircraft cockpit and air traffic control (ATC) contacts you with a flight plan change because of two words “Flight Check?” That’s the call sign for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight inspection aircraft that periodically check airfield services and navigational aids (NAVAIDs) throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) and overseas in support of the nation’s global strategic mission. The FAA’s flight inspection mission is augmented by military formations from the Army and Air Force that are chartered to support U.S. military operations worldwide. SFC Clifford...
Learn MoreUAS: Programmatically Focused and Engaged
Unmanned Aircraft Systems / By COL Courtney Cote: We owe our absolute best to Soldiers and to operational commanders. The team in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Management Office (UAS PMO), in coordination with a vast and diverse community of stakeholders, remains programmatically focused and operationally engaged to deliver the absolute best support we can to our Soldiers and operational commanders. There are a lot of great things going on with UAS and with the Army’s UAS portfolio. Some of the major efforts to update the community on the UAS portfolio include driving toward a higher level of commonality between...
Learn MoreFuture AUS: A Soldier’s Best Friend
Unmanned Aircraft Systems / By COL Paul A. Cravey: To meet the demands of the future strategic environment the Army must be able to achieve an enduring requirement: rapidly deploy task-organized combined arms forces able to transition quickly and conduct operations of sufficient scale and ample duration to achieve strategic objectives. During the Vietnam era, to do this, the Army innovatively integrated an emerging technology of the time, rotary wing platforms, with ground maneuver forces and fire support to increase its reach, protection, and lethality. As it was in the 1970s, to dominate in today’s and tomorrow’s multi-domain environment, the...
Learn MoreWhat Are the Rules for Small Unmanned Aircraft?
AMRDEC Tech Talk / By Mr. Dan H. Beck: It is difficult to keep up with how to legally operate a small unmanned aircraft system (SUAS). It is one of those subjects that you might get several different answers on what is legal and what is not. An RQ-11 Raven hand-launched remote-controlled unmanned aircraft system. / AMRDEC AED PHOTO I am going to step through a couple of different scenarios that will help explain the Army rules, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules and how they should be applied to your operations. DefinitionFirst off, let’s talk about SUAS basics. All Army...
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