First All-Afghan Cargo Sling Mission

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Jared Walker | An Afghan Air Force Mi-17 transport helicopter hovers as it picks up a sling load at Eagle LZ in Qalat. The first flight took 30 minutes at 9000 feet above sea level.  

ZABUL PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

12.21.2010

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jared Walker 

438th Air Expeditionary Wing

ZABUL, Afghanistan - The first All-Afghan cargo sling load mission was conducted on Dec. 21 to deliver winter supplies from Eagle landing zone in Qalat to the Afghan National Army’s 205th Corp’s remote outpost near Mizan in the Zabul province.

While this first flight took just 30 minutes, it required a high degree of professional aviation and crew resource management skills to smoothly pick up and deliver cargo using the sling load method.

The crew for this historic mission included five crew members from the Afghan Air Force’s Kandahar Air Wing. Maj. Azizullah, aircraft commander, Maj. Abdul Wodod co-pilot, 1st Lt. Wahab (flight engineer), Sgt. Bashir (crew chief) and Sgt. Raheem, flight medic, were the first Afghan Air Force crew members to complete a cargo sling load mission without the on-board assistance of NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan Air advisors.

Since this mission last month, the Kandahar Air Wing has completed three additional independent sling load missions. Sgt 1st Class Lara, from the 441st AEAS, was one of the key air advisor behinds the success of this mission.

The Cargo Sling mission is a delicate precision hover operation that requires an enormous amount of crew coordination. The pilots rely upon their crew chief to give them precise directions in three dimensions to be able to pick up and then safely deliver the cargo as ground crews hook up and disconnect the sling to their aircraft as it hovers overhead.

Lara worked with the crews to develop the communication skills and crew interactions necessary for this mission. Typically officer pilots do not take direction from enlisted crew members. However, the Afghan pilots quickly understood that they must work together as a team to be able to safely deliver the cargo.

This mission is just the beginning for the Kandahar Air Wing as additional crew members become certified on this cargo delivery method and the Afghan Air Force expands its capacity to provide for the security of their country.

• Date Taken: 12.21.2010
• Date Posted: 01.14.2011 08:01
• Story ID: 63530
• Location: ZABUL PROVINCE, AF