The role of the Army Helicopter School (AHS) is to train helicopter pilots for the Army and helicopter flying instructors for the Army and RAN.
The ADF Helicopter School (ADFHS) was raised from 5 Sqn RAAF at RAAF Base Fairbairn on 01 Jan 90. It was placed under Army control as a HQ Training Command-Army unit with 18 AS-350B Squirrel helicopters. The school was at first tasked with providing initial training of Army Black Hawk helicopter and all Australian Navy helicopter pilots. In 1991, ADFHS became responsible for the initial rotary wing training of all Army helicopter pilots. Jan 1993 saw the school also assigned the basic qualification training of helicopter flying instructors. In addition all basic loadmaster training was conducted at ADFHS until 1997.
The ADFHS was relocated to the Army Aviation Centre at Oakey, on 1 Dec, 2001. There it was renamed the Army Helicopter School - Flight Skills Division of the Army Aviation Training Centre.The unit operates 15 Kiowa Bell 206B-1helicopters, the maintenance of these aircraft being contracted out to Boeing Australia.
The AHS is made up of three wings:
- Helicopter Conversion Wing: Responsible for initial rotary wing conversion of pilot trainees. This course is conducted over 3 months.
- Helicopter Tactics Wing: Responsible for instructing more advanced rotary wing techniques (eg formation flying, low level navigation, tactical low flying). This course also takes approximately 3 months and trainees are awarded their wings on completion.
- Instructor Training Wing: Responsible for training QFIs for the Army and Navy. This course runs approximately 5 months.
There is also an HQ section in support responsible for administration
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