More War Drills - Large-Scale Training Exercises for Mountain Combat in Russia’s Southern District
A large-scale training of the South Military District helicopter regiment is held in Kabardino-Balkaria, among cliffs and mountain peaks. Among the hardest tasks are landing in total darkness, navigating based on smoke from the fire, and banked turns above the steep.
Andrey Chistyakov observed the pilots' precise maneuvers.
The Air Force officers practice their flying skills in the vicinity of Mount Elbrus. Glaciers instead of a blackboard, notches' sharp stones instead of school desks. The South Military District pilots are panting, they're at a high-altitude staging. 2,000 meters above sea level. Some are at the wheel, others are on the slopes, visually memorizing their colleagues' aerial waltz. A narrow mountainous plateau is an unprepared aerodrome. Landing on it based on the smoke looks like a regular exercise that many fail on their first try.
A pilot: "The peculiarity of such landing is that you can't remain in limbo, you need to land with gradual speed bleedoff".
The so-called 'drill vehicles' are at the mountain staging, they 'serve' in the South Military District. The oldest helicopter is no more than 5 years old. Each one is upgraded to meet any challenges, whether it's airdrop or evacuating the injured. To understand what it means to fly a helicopter in the mountains, we'll tell you a small part of the 'course,' as military pilots call it.
First of all, it's downward air currents from the rocky slopes, heated by the sun. They basically slam the helicopter into the ground. There's also wind, favorable and not, but they still have to complete every task. It's hard for the newbies. Dueling eagles in the notches isn't easy. The avian predators, the mountain masters make even the experienced pilots nervous, attacking the heavy helicopters.
Nikita Vasilyev, a helicopter plane commander: "On a flatland, you have this much room for error, this is what you have in the mountains".
As the pilots say, only such training can teach them to read the slopes and choose the right speed and route.
The Alligators and Terminators crews still have to learn night-flying. Lift-offs, landings, maneuvers over the notches, and helical screw noises will disturb the rocky silence for 2 more weeks. Then, it's homing, post-flight analysis, and working on mistakes that mountains won't let you get away with.
Andrey Chistyakov, Evgeny Radaev. Vesti from the vicinity of Mount Elbrus, Kabardino-Balkaria.