Photo By Sgt. Maj. Alexander Burnett | Captain Aynsley Burell, a U.S. Air Force C-130 navigator, watches her pilots prepare...... read more read more
MONTE REAL, Portugal – The flight deck of a U.S. Air Force C-130 is a crowded place, but everyone serves a purpose. Up front, two pilots maneuver the aircraft under the watchful eyes of a flight engineer. In a corner behind all three, the navigator ensures things stay on course.
Captain Aynsley Burrell, a U.S. Air Force C-130 navigator assigned to the 700th Airlift Squadron from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, planned and flew several missions in support of Real Thaw 18, a Portuguese national exercise hosted at Airbase Number Five February 29 through March 9, 2018.
Her role in the exercise is a crucial one, planning and executing air missions alongside military personnel from six NATO countries including paratroop drops, engine running offloads with foreign special operations forces, formation flights and night operations.
“Flying has been awesome, the mission planning has been a little crazy and hectic at times,” she said. “This is my first time working in a mission planning cell, but it’s been very rewarding to plan alongside NATO partners.”
In addition to planning missions with Allied nations, she also gets to fly with them.
“We’ve carried Portuguese personnel and equipment in our aircraft for several missions and that’s been pretty cool,” she said. “We also got to fly alongside a Portuguese C-130. That was beneficial for both nations and we got a lot of good feedback from them.”
In addition to getting beneficial feedback from her NATO counterparts, Burrell and her team were viewed as valuable additions to the exercise.
“The entire U.S. team has been very professional in this exercise,” said Portuguese Marine 2nd Lt. Victory Rodriguez, an infantry officer training with the U.S. C-130 team. “It is always beneficial to train with a group like this that has so much experience.”
| Date Taken: | 02.09.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.26.2018 06:56 |
| Story ID: | 267144 |
| Location: | MONTE REAL, PT |
| Hometown: | ATLANTA, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 617 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT