Photo By Maj. Jeffrey Windmueller | Crews from 6-52nd Theater Aviation Battalion pose in front of the C-12 Huron piloted...... read more read more
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Nicholas Demas was admiring the jagged peaks of the Swiss Alps cutting through the clouds when the radio crackled to life.
“Be advised, you are going to be intercepted by a Swiss fighter jet for training purposes,” the voice said.
Seconds later, an American-made F/A-18 Hornet appeared just 10 feet off his wingtip. Demas and his co-pilot snapped a quick photo, but the moment served as a stark reminder: this was no sightseeing trip. As an Army Reserve aviator, Demas was on a mission—flying halfway around the world to support Exercise Balikatan 2025, the 40th iteration of the joint and combined U.S.-Philippine military exercise in the South Pacific.
In doing so, Demas accomplished a rare feat: circumnavigating the globe in a twin-turboprop aircraft, the C-12 Huron.
. . .
Today, global travel is common. But circumnavigating the Earth in a military turboprop aircraft still requires meticulous planning and tremendous skill.
“Fuel management is one of the biggest concerns,” Demas said. “If weather happens, where can I go, and what can I do?”
Flying stateside, a storm over Dallas might just mean diverting to Oklahoma City. But overseas, in unfamiliar airspace, with limited fuel and no backup airfields, every leg had to be planned with precision.
Five months before takeoff, Demas and fellow pilots from Charlie Company, 6-52nd Theater Aviation Battalion began building the plan. The environment, extreme distances, and diplomatic hurdles of flying a military aircraft through foreign airspace demanded careful consideration.
“Part of my planning for this whole trip is APACS clearances,” Demas explained, referencing the DoD’s Aircraft and Personnel Automated Clearance System. “Every country’s approval includes specific airports. Landing at a non-approved location could cause serious issues.”
Based on the Beechcraft Super King Air 200, the Army’s C-12 is primarily used to transport distinguished visitors (DVs). With internal fuel tanks installed for the trip, Demas’s aircraft could stay airborne for over six hours at a time—closer to eight with careful fuel management.
Each landing was calculated to ensure at least 800–1,000 pounds of fuel remained, in case the aircraft needed to circle or divert due to emergencies or unfriendly airspace. These limitations, both mechanical and diplomatic, made one thing clear: the flight needed to continue eastward the entire way.
“We wouldn’t have had the fuel to fly westward, against the winds, to Alaska and then Japan,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brittney Hobt, who joined the mission in the Philippines. “You’d end up making an unscheduled stop in the ocean.”
That added fuel capacity proved vital more than once.
Approaching Phuket, Thailand, Demas and Chief Warrant Officer 4 John Kittinger encountered a lightning storm so intense it seemed unreal.
“It was the craziest lightning storm I had ever seen,” Demas said.
Placed into a holding pattern at 15,000 feet, the crew watched as international airliners queued up behind them.
“We were the paper airplane in the sky, trying to land between these major airlines,” he said. When one jet was told it was “No. 20” in line, Demas knew he had to act quickly and precisely.
By then, Demas had logged 44 flight hours across 11 time zones—and was still days away from his exercise destination.
. . .
At Balikatan 2025, Army Reserve aviators flew across the Philippines supporting joint operations with the Philippine military and other partner nations, including Japan and Australia.
Operating the nimble C-12 allowed the Army Reserve team to move personnel and senior leaders across the islands, freeing up larger aircraft for logistics and combat support missions.
“They were standard missions, for the most part,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Donny Distler, who joined Demas in the Philippines. “But the collaboration between the four branches—it was seamless. It felt like we’d worked together for years.”
Still, there were challenges. In a non-FAA environment, navigating language barriers, different air traffic control procedures, and weather made each flight a test of skill.
“ATC was like the Wild West,” Distler said.
Controllers sometimes asked unexpected questions like, “Who are you and what’s your intention?”—prompting a moment of confusion before Demas answered: “To land?”
The runways themselves often added to the difficulty. Narrow, unlit strips—with tailwinds and monsoon rains—meant visual perception was easily distorted.
The aviators also supported training scenarios beyond transport.
In one exercise, Demas, Hobt, and Kittinger played roles in a simulated cockpit emergency, helping test and train local first responders.
“There were (simulated) smoke and fumes in the cockpit,” Demas said. “That triggered the emergency crews.”
While Hobt was treated for smoke inhalation and Kittinger for a simulated heart attack, Demas played a disoriented senior leader.
“I was told to be confused, concerned, and unaware of what was going on,” he said. “They had to control me and guide me to safety.”
. . .
When Balikatan concluded, Demas and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ryan Rennecker launched from Misawa, Japan, into complete darkness—no stars, no visible clouds. Just the black of the sky above the Pacific.
Three hours later, the sun rose over the Aleutians, eventually giving light to steam rising from an active volcano on Great Sitkin Island.
“It was the most spectacular sunrise I’ve ever seen,” Demas said. “You could still see the stars behind you, but ahead, this bright edge of sunlight was cutting across the sky.”
After nearly 25 years in uniform, Demas knew this would likely be his final long-range mission.
From the deserts of Qatar to the atolls of the Maldives, from snowdrifts in Canada to the extreme heat of the Philippines, the globe-spanning mission tested every skill he had. Mechanical delays, diplomatic clearance hiccups, and weather all added to the challenge. But the payoff was returning home—over Memorial Day weekend—just in time to see his daughter’s softball game.
“All told, I flew more than 20,000 miles and 90 hours,” Demas said. “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity.
“To a certain extent, I just flew my mission—but when I step back and realize I flew around the world in a twin-engine turboprop… it’s insane.”
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2025 16:10 |
| Story ID: | 501624 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Chief Warrant Officer Circles the Globe in C-12 Huron, by MAJ Jeffrey Windmueller, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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