Squadrons team up for LFE

Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Courtney Glen White | Before a practice run, Lt. j.g. Matt Sullivan, a pilot with Fighter Attack Squadron 86, climbs into the cockpit and performs all his proper pre-flight checks at the VFA-86 hangar aboard the Air Station, April 24. Fighter Attack Squadron 86 participates in Large Force Exercises with with both Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 and 533.  

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

05.28.2010

Story by Lance Cpl. R. J. Driver 

Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. - Training is continuous in the Marine Corps, and the Air Station is no exception. Marines are always participating in some form of training to better their professional development and warrior ethos.

For some, the training may be reviewing how to properly send out a travel claim, clean a rifle, prepare a tasty omelet or how to conduct a tour of the base, but for a few, it is how to properly land a $30 million aircraft safely and perform maneuvers that protect our Marines on the ground.

Large Force Exercises are one example of the training done by pilots aboard the Air Station. Unlike their Field Carrier Landing Practice counterparts, LFEs are primarily for multiple squadrons to partake in and familiarize the operations section and the pilots to large force operations, hence the name. The LFEs vary from to the FCLPs where pilots fly the same path every single time to get the same results.

"These practices are generally harder, more complex and just difficult, especially if you haven't done it before," said Capt. Ernie Drake, a pilot with Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 533. "Things always get a little more complex when you start adding to them. We take the basics and expand on them."

The basics may be simple to a trained pilot, but even experienced pilots have some trouble in different aspects of the exercise.

"Even the best of us can have a hard time when it gets to more advanced maneuvers, like refueling in the air," Drake added. "Couple that with a few more aircraft and you have a well coordinated training event."

During LFEs, it is not uncommon for naval aircraft to participate. According to Maj. Robert Johnson, a pilot with VMFA-533, the Navy squadron has the same aircraft as the Marines and often participate in the LFEs with them.

The diversity and coordination alone is what makes the training so valuable to the pilots and squadrons as a whole, Drake continued.

The Marine Corps embraces the one team, one fight mentality. So the next time a jet rips the sky, creating the sound of freedom, know it is for a good cause.

• Date Taken: 05.28.2010
• Date Posted: 05.28.2010 08:43
• Story ID: 50432
• Location: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA, US