required maintenance and inspections for aircraft integration into
the combat zone.
These facilities also must coordinate immediate
backhaul of predesignated ASTs and ferry equipment.
ASTs and ferry
equipment must be shipped by high priority airlift to CONUS for reuse
in later flights.
As with support teams, personnel of these AVIM
facilities are preselected and dispatched when the self-deployment
directive is issued.
Most of the required equipment also is pre-
positioned similarly to that of the en route ground support
equipment. To facilitate the integration of self-deploying aircraft
and crews into a theater combat force structure, command facilities
must exist at each terminating site.
(6) When aviation units are deployed to destinations beyond
those with fixed-base facilities, predesignated GSTs must be
positioned to perform those functions described in (5) above.
If
GSTs are not available or cannot be emplaced, provisions may be made
for friendly nations to provide the required services.
b. Depot or Departure Points
At the depot or departure point, ferry equipment is installed
on the aircraft and crews are joined by their AST.
Crews also are
briefed on the mission and issued survival gear.
Aircraft then
depart the depot or departure point, stopping at each stopover point
for fuel, crew rest, and maintenance.
c. Pilot Rotation and Crew Endurance
(1) Depending on the deployment destination, aircrews may be
required to fly six- to ten-hour legs every day.
To ensure that
crews are physically able to fight once they arrive in the theater,
an effective crew endurance policy must be established.
(2) To enhance aircrew alertness during deployment and in the
new theater, work and rest schedules of the aircrews should be
adjusted before deployment flights. This is especially critical if a
need for continuous operations is anticipated in the new theater.
(3) Commanders must devise a method of rotating crews through
pilot
duties. CH-47s and UH-60s have cabin space for crew chiefs and
extra
pilots. CH-47s that accompany AH-64s also can carry additional
AH-64
crews. Rest stops and crew changes should take place every two
hours
when flying over land. While flying over the sea in either a
UH-60
or a CH-47, one crew member at a time can rotate.
(4) Usually, there will not be enough pilots of a
particular type aircraft to allow two crews per aircraft. Pilots
9
AV1525
Previous Page
