Priority 1 Air Rescue delivers effective and proven mission training capability

The high cost of flight training compounded by a limited availability of designated experienced instructors and aircraft availability is a major challenge commonly faced by most operators today. The development of newly assigned ab-initio aircrews while maintaining flight currencies places even more strain on limited staffing. Consequently, many agencies are looking beyond the normal status quo to provide innovative and effective solutions to get through the training bottleneck and strive for saving the associated flight costs.

Alternatively, many law enforcement departments, public safety search and rescue (SAR) agencies, and military operators are turning to synthetic training providers for more focused and affordable part / whole task mission training to decrease the time required to standardize and develop their current aircrews and for completing new hire training quicker and safer.

It is well known that there are many benefits to synthetic helicopter flight training for pilots; from levels of standardization, range and depth of specific skills practice and mission training capabilities, to cost savings, employing ‘green’ technology, and the ability to practice highrisk evolutions to proficiency. This includes specific techniques and training tasks that cannot be practiced in the aircraft, hazardous environmental conditions, and the ability to practice emergency procedures that cannot safely be practiced during live flight, regularly and repeatedly. These emergency procedures include engine failures while hoisting, load pendulums, spins, cable entanglement, and emergency cable cuts. Aircrews should then progress to challenging and relevant full mission scenarios that require fast decisions for the rear crew under extreme pressure.

“Many recognize there is a current gap in our profession for rear-crew training,” said Brad Matheson, President of Priority 1 Air Rescue Group (P1AR). “There is a need to change the dynamics of mission training from solely live flight training to a more graduated and systematic approach leveraging simulation which provides demonstrable progress and tangible metrics for increased student performance, compounded with the benefits of being safer and more cost-effective”.

A GLOBAL REPUTATION

Celebrating its 25th year in this highly specialized industry, P1AR has established a global reputation among law enforcement, emergency SAR services, and DOD operators as an innovative ‘one-stop SAR shop’ for aircrew training services, equipment, and operational staffing. The company is known for developing comprehensive programs based on industry best practices, tailored to customer missions and aircraft.

Since 1999 P1AR has achieved a noteworthy amount of significant ‘firsts’ in the industry to include: conducting the very first human hoist on the Bell 429 and AB139 helicopters, establishing and operating the very first dedicated SAR training center in North America offering customers synthetic hoist training with the use of virtual hoist and aerial gunnery simulators, reconfigurable hoist procedural training towers utilizing actual helicopter hoists, and program milestones like establishing the first instructor-led Flight Mechanic Helicopter Hoist Operator ‘C’ School currently provided for the US Coast Guard, the newly announced Special Mission Aviator School for the US Air Force Global Strike Grey Wolf program, combined rearcrew training program Royal Netherlands Air Force and Navy, UK/SAR winchmen school, the French MOD rear-crew training programs, and CHC Ireland winch operator program. The P1AR training program developed for CHC Ireland was the first of its kind to be accepted by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), approving the academic course of learning, methods of instruction, and the use of both synthetic devices for training SAR rear crews. 

“Our exceptionally well-trained and experienced team focuses on perfecting our methods and technology to improve the student learning process and increase their mission safety and capability. While our specialty is whole-crew mission training, we are more rear-crew centric,” explained Matheson. “We have the initiative in the market providing full-service helicopter mission training offering the entire bandwidth of programs with integrated synthetic mission training for rear crews, along with the remarkable advantage of having very professional and high-profile customers showcase our proven performance and experience. P1AR is unmatched offering a proven capability versus a proposal concept.”

Additional high-profile programs implemented by P1AR over its 25-year history includes establishing six separate helicopter SAR/air ambulance programs for five different commercial helicopter operators providing rear-crew staffing, Class D HHO/HEC/NVG training and certification support, and state/ country air ambulance licensing.

WORLD-CLASS TRAINING

In addition to providing standardized courseware with instructor-led ground school and live flight training courses offered at the customer’s location, Priority 1 Air Rescue also operates two world-class Search and Rescue – Tactical Training Academies (SART/ TAC) located in Mesa, Arizona (established in 2011), and Bordeaux, France (established in 2014), which are solely dedicated to providing a full spectrum of initial to advanced synthetic mission training solutions.

SART/TAC employs full-time instructors operating cutting-edge synthetic training devices including Advanced Aircrew Mission Simulators (AAMS) for SAR/tactical – aerial gunnery/use of force, Hoist Procedural Towers (HPT) that are reconfigurable to over 20 different types of helicopters and use actual Breeze-Eastern and Goodrich hoists, ALSE training area, fast-rope / rappel tower, advanced life support synthetic medical training mannequins, and a complete domestic/international array of SAR and air ambulance mission equipment.

The AAMS software is high fidelity with realistic cable physics and is customconfigured to recreate a myriad of locations, environments, aircraft models, missions, day, and night unaided or night vision goggles. The AAMS aerial gunnery software utilizes ballistic simulation designs that meet NABK standards while operating the M240, M134, GAU17, and HK417/SR25 weapon systems that can be positioned on either side of the cabin, including the tail ramp for participation of multiple students simultaneously. The AAMS is reconfigurable to accommodate multiple aircraft types and cabin configurations, to include a single or dual cockpit.

In addition to individual live and synthetic training programs options, P1AR also provides blended training to further support customers with the transition to operational aircraft by delivering ground and synthetic practice at either SART/TAC Mesa or Bordeaux location and then continuing with the next phase of live flight at the customer’s facility utilizing their aircraft for integrated live flight training and mission rehearsal with scenario-based training.

To meet the high demand of their instructorled training and use of their synthetic HPT and AAMS training devices, P1AR has had to double their capacity at the Mesa SART/TAC by adding a second HPT and AAMS, and has opened anew administration office at a separate location in Mesa to provide additional customer services and SAR equipment sales.

SUMMARY

Truly understanding their customers’ missions, specific standards, and common operational challenges allows Priority 1 Air Rescue to deliver comprehensive solutions that include an entire SAR ecosystem with the optimal combination of equipment, training programs, synthetic devices, and dedicated facilities to meet their customers’ mission training requirements and budgets.