Alabama Base Trains Next Generation Of U.S. Army Aviators

Fort Rucker hosts probably the biggest gathering of helicopters in one location anywhere. Around 600 are based there, spread across five Army airfields. This image was taken from the tower of Cairns Army Airfield, the biggest of the five in area. This airfield houses the majority of the primary training fleet of TH-67 Creeks, UH-72 Lakotas and U.S. Air Force Bell TH-1Hs belonging to the 23rd Flight Training Sqdn. The base is also home to medevac fleets of UH-72s and Beechcraft C-12s.

Lowe Army Airfield sits within Fort Rucker and is home to 70-80 UH-60L and M-model Black Hawks. This image illustrates just one small flight line of UH-60Ms parked in front of Lowe’s air traffic control tower. As you can see, the weather in Alabama is quite conducive to flight training.

As part of the Aviation Restructuring Initiative, the UH-72 was selected as the primary rotary-wing training helicopter for the Army and is scheduled to replace the TH-67 and Bell OH-58A/B Kiowa by the end of the decade. Although it is heavier, and more expensive to operate, the Army believes training on the Lakota will better prepare students for the front-line types they will fly.

The UH-72 was originally purchased to meet the Army’s Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) requirement to replace the remaining Bell UH-1 Iroquois rotorcraft in the homeland security, administrative, logistics, medical evacuation mission. Now, there are 186 Lakotas serving in the training mission at Fort Rucker, and the Army hopes to have a fleet of 211 to meet all of its training requirements.

Around 50% of Army rotary-wing students are now being trained on the Lakota; the other half on the TH-67 Creek, a variant of the Bell JetRanger. Although they were introduced in 1993, the Creeks have had hard lives. Combined, they have flown hundreds of thousands of hours and undergone countless autorotations to the ground, but instructors say the Creeks help reinforce basic flight-training skills.

For its training, Fort Rucker uses special outposts outside its boundaries called stagefields, where students can practice landings, takeoffs and autorotations away from the busy Army airfields. Each stagefield has 4-6 landing strips or lanes, with two or more helicopters using each lane.

With so many helicopters operating and so many aircraft looking alike, Fort Rucker-based aircraft are unique in carrying large numbers on their rear fuselages to aid identification by air traffic controllers. This is a UH-60M making an approach to land. The M-model can be identified by the distinct fold in the tip of the main rotor blade.

The Army also trains its fixed-wing pilots at nearby Dothan Regional Airport. Here, three C-12Us bask in the sunshine ready for that afternoon’s training flights. Training is conducted in a new facility operated by CAE with pilots taking their upset recovery training in the Grob G120TP.