Leonardo Helicopter Training Academy Plays Host to Personnel

The first bunch of students from Malmstrom AFB made their way to the Leonardo Helicopters Training Academy to begin a 32-day course on the newest addition to the USAF's helicopter fleet.

The MH-139 Grey Wolf is the latest and greatest from the Italian marque Leonardo, offering better performance and a more modern flight deck than ever before. Accordingly, it brings a whole host of operational demands for crew chiefs, aviators, and maintainers accustomed to older airframes. Those attending were selected from a range of personnel, with a variety of experience levels and time on station. The group is intended to offer a diverse sampling to aid in evaluation, to help decide which units and personnel match up with the Grey Wolf training in the future.

“I was super excited,” said Capt. Jacques Soto, 40th Helicopter Squadron pilot. “This is the third aircraft I’ve learned from the Air Force, and I’m really excited about this one because I remember seeing it in pilot training and thinking, ‘I want to get my hands on that,’ and it’s come to fruition.”

“For a lot of us Huey air crew that have been around for a while, this is very important because it’s really the first step to getting this [new] aircraft towards initial operational capability,” said Lt Col Williams, 550th HS commander. “To send the first crews through training means that we are moving on the right track. The MH-139 is a giant leap in capability, performance, and speed over the UH-1N Huey, so we’re going to be able to perform our missions in the missile field more efficiently." 

FMI: www.af.mil