NA NNNAAVY VVYVY NEWS,YY NEWNENEWS,S APRAPAAPRIL 2009 PRRIILIL L 200202000099
Royal Naval offi cer S/Lt Alex Craig is a Commando Helicopter t Alex Craig is a Commando Helicopter
Force Sea King pilot currently deployed in Afghanistan,
fl ying in support of British troops in Helmand province. In In
this article he takes a little time out from fl ying operations ons
to explain a little about himself and his experiences
working in Afghanistan. He was awarded his pilot’s
Wings in July last year, and then joined 846 NAS.
A
‘Jungly’ pilot’s training is I’m glad that the
notoriously tough. Taught
temperature is a
to operate as a single pilot
gentlemanly 15˚C
alongside an aircrewman, it’s known
degrees rather than the
to be one the most demanding
45˚C which it can frequently
courses in the Fleet Air Arm.
reach in the height of summer.
Once airborne, the fl ying varies from
The pilot is responsible for fl ying the
long transits at altitude across the
aircraft at low level (100ft), working the
relative safety of the Red Desert in the
radios, acting as Air Mission Commander
south of Helmand Province to minutes
and, with help from an aircrewman,
of excitement as the Sea King rapidly
navigating safely to a given point.
descends to fl y fast and low to land at a
Although they are trained to this
patrol base.
high level, in Afghanistan it is much
The landing sites all vary in size, some
safer to operate with two pilots and an
of them no bigger than a tennis court,
aircrewman.
meaning that landing as a pair of Sea
One pilot, usually the aircraft captain,
Kings leaves little room for error.
handles the mission command and
Flying in such confi ned areas means we
radios so that the other pilot, usually
have to concentrate on fl ying accurately,
the more junior ‘P2’ – second pilot – can
working closely with all members of
concentrate solely on the safety of the
the crew to ensure everything happens
aircraft.
smoothly and safely.
When I arrived in theatre I asked one of
You want to spend as little time landing
the aircraft captains my responsibilities as
and taking off as possible as these are the
a P2.
stages of fl ight during which you’re most
His reply, somewhat in jest was “Don’t
vulnerable to enemy fi re.
hit the ground unless I tell you to!”
You fi nd yourself relying on your
It is a testament to the challenge of
training….and the training of your mate
operating in such an environment.
landing just behind you!
The Sea Kings of 845 and 846 Naval Air
Flying in colder weather has its benefi ts.
Squadrons operate as part of the Joint
The engines and rotor blades are much
Helicopter Force (Afghanistan) based at
more effi cient, meaning we can carry more
the Coalition-run Kandahar Airfi eld and
people and stores.
have been since coming to theatre in
The aircraft is usually fi lled with as much
November 2007.
as it can carry which means each take-off
From Kandahar they operate to Forward
is pushing the Sea King to its limits.
Operating Bases and smaller patrol bases
Although there are typical tasking days,
supporting troops.
there is no guessing where we will be
This support can range from re-supplies
tasked from one day to the next.
of ammunition and fuel, or food and water
Afghanistan’s vast landscape means
vital to their existence, or as we found in
that we could fi nd ourselves working
the run up to Christmas, lots and lots of
with British forces in the predominantly
mail.
arid Helmand province one day, then
A typical day of tasking in the winter
working to the north in the snow-capped
involves starting at dawn, briefi ng before
mountains with the Dutch forces in
every fl ight to get any intelligence of
Urzugan province.
enemy activity for the area in which the
During the latter half of our three-
crew will be operating for that day.
month tour, the inclement weather of the
They fl y as a formation of two Sea
Afghanistan winter was beginning to take
Kings – for mutual support – but often
hold, becoming more and more a factor
fi nd themselves operating with other
during fl ying.
British helicopters such as Apaches and
We have experienced colossal
Chinooks and also foreign ones like the
thunderstorms at night with torrential
Dutch Apache.
rain. No matter how bad the weather is
For each fl ight a crewman takes with him
for fl ying you’ve got to remember there
his SA80 rifl e, 9mm pistol, survival bergen,
are guys on the ground in much worse
webbing with spare ammunition and Mk61
conditions, and it is our job to provide
survival jacket with body armour as well
them with whatever we can.
as personal survival kit in case the worst
It is for this attitude that the ‘Junglies’
should happen.
are revered: getting the job done
This essential kit varies from person
regardless of the conditions to support the
to person but will usually contain
troops.
ammunition, water, survival aids, and
After a few days of rain, the usually
during the winter, warm clothing.
bone-dry wadis quickly fi ll up with the
I can see in the summer just how
water running down from the hills.
exhausted you could get just climbing in to
The ‘green-zones’ surrounding the rivers
the heat of the cockpit with so much kit.
were practically desert when we began our
Although the cold weather is a welcome
tour in December, but once it had rained
break from the heat of the Afghan
they started to live up to their name.
summer, operating the aircraft in freezing
It was amazing to see that after just a
temperatures poses obvious problems for
few days of rain the ground turned a rich
the engineers.
green colour with the growth of farmers’
Much of the time they fi nd themselves
crops – a livelihood which many Afghans
outside working on the aircraft in below-
rely on for their income.
zero temperatures, at night or in heavy
Flying in Afghanistan is clearly very
thunderstorms to provide serviceable
challenging and although we were well
aircraft for the following day’s tasking.
trained before we arrived in theatre, one
Depending on that tasking we can
thing we found it diffi cult to prepare for
fi nd ourselves moving troops and
was the sheer pace of operations.
supplies between various coalition troop
Flying more than I ever have before,
outposts, as well as insertions of troops
spending the whole day completely
for deliberate assaults on known Taliban
focused took time to get used to.
e to enemy fi
e stages of fl ight during which
re
strongholds.
I spent the fi rst week pretty exhausted
A typical day’s tasking will involve
but soon fell in to the routine and really
spending six hours airborne with a further
started to enjoy the fl ying.
two spent sat in the cockpit.
Afghanistan.indd 2 20/3/09 14:49:11
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58