Mountain Week in North Carolina

The final training event during our Pre-Field Orientation was practicing in the mountains of North Carolina. Even though JAARS calls it "Mountain Week," it's actually 10 days long. We had four airplanes, two helicopters, mechanics, pilots, and support personnel living and flying out of Avery County Airport. In the helicopter we practiced evaluating the unpredictable winds in the terrain and how to make a safe approach to landing in a variety of landing zone (LZ) types and locations.

Some of the LZs we used were right along the Appalachian Trail, so we had to watch out for hikers! There are a few pictures below of us on various mountain peaks on the AT. Turns out, it's much more convenient getting to the top in a helicopter than by walking! We also got to meet a number of JAARS supporters who were happy to have us land on their property. Here are a few pictures and video from our time in Avery County.

I took the video above from the back seat of the Helio Courier airplane landing at a grass strip called Strawberry Ridge. It's steeply sloped and requires a high amount of pilot skill to safely land. It has an "airborne commit point," meaning there's a point on final approach, while the airplane is still in the air, where you cannot safely execute a go-around. If anything is amiss after that point, it's better to continue the landing than try to go around. These types of airstrips are common in the overseas locations where JAARS airplane pilots fly. After seeing them landing and taking off from Strawberry Ridge, I was certainly happy to be flying helicopters and not have to deal with that!

We also recently did a 4-wheel drive course and a dirt bike course here at JAARS. We'll post pictures and video from those courses soon.