If you are a current ARRL member, you probably received your April 2018 issue of QST by now. Included in this month’s issue is an article in the Public Service section, written by EC Bob Willey, about our August helicopter landing zone training exercise. In fact, if you participated in that exercise, you are probably in the group photo next the Airlift Northwest helicopter.
The article encourages ARES teams to train on helicopter landing zone operations and describes how Centralia ARES went about doing exactly that. All too often, ARES teams seem to restrict their training and exercises to simple and somewhat boring radio operations. In a community like Centralia, our ARES team supports the City of Centralia’s Emergency Management Team as well as the Centralia Police Department and Riverside Fire Authority. While we may not conduct helicopter operations on a regular basis, training ahead of time to conduct those operations seems important and prudent. As the article goes on to say, even if teams are never asked to set up a landing zone or talk a helicopter onto the ground, the training alone is valuable to team spirit and radio familiarization.
Our thanks to Airlift Northwest and Riverside Fire Authority for their help and support during the training exercise outlines in this article. Thanks too, to the ARRL staff that did a great job.
