Black Hawks support New Horizons
By Capt. Mike Chillstrom
March 13, 2006
LA CEIBA, Honduras (Army News Service, March 13, 2006) – More than 2,000 miles from home, 150 men and women from the New York National Guard are playing a key role in New Horizons 2006-Honduras.
New Horizons is a joint training exercise between the U.S. military and Honduran government that ultimately strives to improve the quality of life for the people of Honduras. When New Horizons is completed in May, the Joint Task Force will have built a maternity clinic, four schools and provided free medical care at 14 different locations in and around the coastal city of La Ceiba.
The 3-142nd Aviation out of Albany, N.Y., is there with a fleet of three UH-60L Black Hawk aircraft.
If a serious injury occurs at one of the five construction sites or anywhere U.S. troops are, a Black Hawk will go to a designated landing zone, and transport the patient to the nearest medical center.
“Our main mission here is casualty evacuation, supporting the Soldiers at the work sites,” said Maj. Mark Slusar, aviation detachment commander. “Basically, if it involves loss of eyesight, life or limb – that’s where we come in.”
“This is our third New Horizons rotation,” he said. “We came to Honduras in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch, we were in Nicaragua in 2002 and now here we are again.”
During New Horizons 2002-Nicaragua, three people needed to be airlifted from the various job sites, so the 3-142nd crews know from experience they may be called upon at a moment’s notice.
Challenges of air ops
The unit has flown in Central American environments before, but flying around La Ceiba has proven to be a challenging task. Poorly lit towers, old maps, a large bird population, mountainous terrain and extreme temperatures all complicate air operations in this region, they said.
“My main mission is making sure we don’t hit any obstacles or birds,” said crew chief Sgt. Shaun Bradley. “There are lots of obstacles around here.”
Being from upstate New York, the Honduras coastline, jungles and mountains have been both “very scenic” and “a great training environment” for the 3-142nd, Slusar said.
When the UH-60s arrived here Feb. 6 aboard a C-5 Galaxy, the maintenance crew was able to reassemble the three aircraft and get them mission ready in about three days.
For every hour of flight, a Black Hawk requires at least an hour of maintenance, including inspections of the fluids, blades, connections and the overall aircraft, Sergeant Bradley said.
“We haven’t had any major (maintenance) problems,” said Sgt 1st Class Todd Bouleris, UH-60 mechanic. “We’re putting more (flight) time on them, and when you exercise the machines they have a tendency to stay together.”
For the maintainers, New Horizons offers a chance to see a foreign country and be a part of a feel-good mission.
“This (New Horizons) is great real-world training because you’re actually doing a mission that affects peoples’ lives,” said Bouleris. “Being able to perform a wide variety of missions makes the Black Hawk an integral part of the Armed Forces.”
Mission varies
“The great thing about this aircraft is it has a great state mission, homeland defense mission and federal mission. It’s very versatile, which enables us to do all sorts of things,” Slusar said.
“The Black Hawk is reliable, redundant and very crash worthy. If you land flat, you’ll more than likely survive,” he said, adding that the seats are designed to collapse and protect the passengers upon impact.
Beyond casualty-evacuation, the Black Hawks shuttle mail to and from Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, and fly distinguished visitors around the area so they can see the job sites first-hand. But for Slusar, the most rewarding missions are the local orientation flights where military passengers get a taste of helicopter flight.
“I really enjoy being able to share what I do with the young Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors who’ve never flown in a helicopter before or people who don’t do it everyday. It’s something that they’ll remember,” he said.
(Editor’s note: Capt Mike Chillstrom serves with New Horizons 2006 PAO.)
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