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PHOENIX - When 17 year-old Amanda Birch told her mother she
wanted to be a pilot, her mom had a practical question, “How do you
even know you like to fly?”
Her answer was to go to the local
airport during her junior year of high school, find a flight
instructor and start flying fixed-winged airplanes. Now a UH-60
Black Hawk pilot, Army 1st Lt. Amanda Birch can honestly tell her
mom, “Yes, I like to fly.”
Not every pilot joins the Arizona
Army National Guard with flight experience but Birch, a platoon
leader for the 2/285th Air Assault Helicopter Battalion, Alpha
Company, was already a licensed commercial pilot and flight
instructor.
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Army 1st Lt. Amanda Birch, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot with the Arizona
Army National Guard's 2/285th Air Assault Helicopter Battalion,
Alpha Company, prepares for a night mission during Operation Angel
Thunder 2014 at Papago Military Reservation in Phoenix on May 12,
2014. Approximately 2,000 multinational agencies are expected to
participate in Angel Thunder. The operation is a joint service
combat search and rescue exercise providing training for personnel
recovery assets using a variety of scenarios to simulate deployed
settings.
(Arizona National Guard photo by Sgt. Crystal Reidy)
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After earning her Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics from
the University of North Dakota, she moved to Arizona and
began working as a flight instructor.
In 2009, she
decided to fly for the Army National Guard.
“I wanted
to fly and make a difference. I wanted to fly Soldiers back
home to their families,” Birch said.
She said she
also enjoys flying for the Guard because of the
opportunities to fly places others cannot. For example, she
can fly low, and land off site in the desert or on pinnacles
in the Four Peaks Wilderness area.
“Piloting in the
Army is an exciting and dynamic environment to adapt to, I
love the unique challenge,” she said.
One major
challenge was the journey to finish flight school.
Birch said civilian flight school was a typical college
experience with a lot of math and science classes with added
flight hours at the end of a school day.
“Army pilot
school was a lot more difficult because you have to memorize
a lot more information in a much shorter period of time,”
Birch said.
The 15-month training pipeline included
the basic officer leadership course; flight training;
survive, evade, resist, escape (SERE) training; and “dunker”
training which trains aircrews to escape a helicopter turned
upside-down under water.
Birch said as soon as formal
training ended, her on-the-job training began. Her unit
taught her to fly with Bambi buckets used to fight wild
fires, with sling loads and other mission specific training.
“We have to meet training hours as well as pass our
annual proficiency and readiness test exam,” Birch said. “So
basically the training and testing never ends for pilots. We
are always learning.”
Army pilots are trained to fly
specific aircraft. Birch explained all pilots start on a
basic helicopter similar to a news helicopter before moving
on to a scout–type helicopter. Finally, pilots begin
training on tactical aircraft such as Black Hawks, Apaches,
Chinooks and Kiowas.
The Army National Guard assigns
pilots based on mission requirements. Birch said she is
happy she was selected for Black Hawk training.
“Black Hawks can be used for civilian missions like natural
disasters and with SWAT missions with the local police,”
Birch said.
“Birch has developed into a fantastic
organizational leader and makes a great officer,” said Capt.
Caleb Grandy, Alpha Company commander.
By Arizona National Guard Sgt. Crystal Reidy
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
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