Gabon Army Light Aviation
L'aviation Legere Des Armees

In 1986 the EMA [Etat-Major Armees] became the EMGFA [Etat-Major General des Forces Armees Gabonaises], with the withdrawal of the rotrary aircraft and the creation of the ALA helicopter component. The Army Light Aviation is the newest of the Gabonese armed forces, created by Presidential Decree n o 00905 / PR / DN 11 July 1986 following the conclusions of the Defence Board of Governors in its meeting on 29 June 1984. The light aircraft armed holds all the helicopters in service in the Gabonese armed forces. It inherited his creation of all structures and personnel of the former squadron Helicopters of the Air Force.

After seven months interim assured by Captain Jules Mondjo Tchango, based Helicopter Light Aviation of the Army, also called ALA received his Commander this July 15, 2016 in the person of Commander KADAGA Youka BOB Clancy has been installed in office by Lieutenant Colonel Lucien ntouka, Air Force commander of the Armed Light, during a simple ceremony in the 01 basic Libreville.

In the presence, in addition to several military leaders and the representative of the military governor of Libreville, many relatives and friends of the promoted who had made the trip from the base of Libreville is a ceremony in pure military tradition that propelled to the front of the command stage, the new Commander of the helicopter base ALA. After the usual ritual given by Lieutenant Colonel Lucien ntouka followed by the presentation of the promoted command pennant, a parade under the command of Commander Kadaka Youka BOB Clancy closed the ceremony full of symbol for this unit that ALA has just been awarded a responsible full time.

It should be recalled that the new Commander of the helicopter base, born April 1, 1981 to Franceville in the province of Haut-Ogooué is pilot captain with nearly 1500 hours on healthcare and Puma helicopters. He successively served as head of service operations at the base from 2010 to 2007 Helicopters, Manager instruction at the base Helicopters from 2010 to 2011; Head of operational resources from 2011 to 2015; Director of Operations Command ALA 2015 to date. Decorated with the Armed Forces Recognition medal in 2010, Commander KADAGA Youka BOB Clancy is married with two children.

Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter derives its source of lift from the rotor blades rotating around a mast. As an aircraft, the primary advantages of the helicopter are due to the rotor blades that revolve through the air, providing lift without requiring the aircraft to move forward. This creates the ability of the helicopter to take off and land vertically without the need for runways. For this reason, helicopters are often used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft are not able to take off or land. The lift from the rotor also allows the helicopter to hover in one area and to do so more efficiently than other forms of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, allowing it to accomplish tasks that fixedwing aircraft are unable to perform.

The helicopter rotor system is the rotating part of a helicopter that generates lift. A rotor system may be mounted horizontally, as main rotors are, providing lift vertically; it may be mounted vertically, such as a tail rotor, to provide lift horizontally as thrust to counteract torque effect. In the case of tilt rotors, the rotor is mounted on a nacelle that rotates at the edge of the wing to transition the rotor from a horizontal mounted position, providing lift horizontally as thrust, to a vertical mounted position providing lift exactly as a helicopter.

Due to the unique operating characteristics of the helicopter — its ability to take off and land vertically, to hover for extended periods of time, and the aircraft’s handling properties under low airspeed conditions—it has been chosen to conduct tasks that were previously not possible with other aircraft or were too time- or work-intensive to accomplish on the ground. Today, helicopters are used for transportation, construction, firefighting, search and rescue, and a variety of other jobs that require its special capabilities.