FORT DRUM, N.Y. (April 28, 2016) -- The roar of engines and a cloud of dust filled the air April 25 as a large cargo plane touched down in a remote area of Fort Drum's training area.
As part of a training mission conducted by aviators from the 103rd Airlift Wing of the Connecticut Air National Guard, the C-130 "Hercules" aircraft became the first to land on the Belvedere Flight Landing Strip in about a decade. Over the past few years, the 3,700-foot-long, 80-foot-wide runway has been repaired, flattening the surface in preparation for the training mission.
The repairs were a collaborative effort between the 10th Mountain Division (LI) and the Air Force surveying team, which conducted soil density testing before the landing, said Maj. Douglas Armstrong, division engineer.
"Now we get to see these last few years of hard work come to fruition -- we'll see a plane actually land," he said.
After completing a series of supply drop simulations -- another part of the training exercise -- the aircraft landed on the dirt strip, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake before making a 180-degree turn and flying back off into the distance.
Similar trainings -- including air drops and dirt runway landings -- are standard practice in the Air Force so that pilots and load masters can maintain their proficiency, Armstrong said.
"Pilots are required to do similar training on an annual or quarterly basis," he said. "They do this at other locations throughout the country -- probably the most common being Fort Bragg, N.C."
Armstrong said that having the ability to practice dirt runway landing at Fort Drum will be a great benefit for Air Force and Air National Guard units.
"By having this here in the Northeast, it attracts those units in to conduct this type of training," he said. "Fort Drum is … a premier Northeast training facility.
"We hope to see more landings like this take place," Armstrong continued. "By bringing the Air Force out here and doing training with them, it really turns into a joint environment. It enhances our opportunities for training for deployment readiness exercises."
Plans are under way for continued use of the newly refurbished landing strip, which will require surface maintenance as well as continued testing of the soil conditions, said Capt. Phillip Armine, 10th Mountain Division (LI) air liaison officer.
"The biggest challenge, by far, is maintaining the condition of the field," he said. "Obviously, a large aircraft landing on dirt, which in this part of the country is not very dense and doesn't support a lot of weight, will tend to tear up the surface of the landing zone. It requires maintenance to make sure that it's still in landable condition -- that the dirt maintains its density."
Armine added that joint training is vital to ensuring success in current operations.
"Everything that we do when we go down range to perform a humanitarian effort or a wartime operation requires cooperation between the Air Force and the Army," he said. "That interoperability is a real key to everything we do."
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