Eight nations train together recovering damaged assets
EATC ran the Multinational Aircraft Recovery Training 2017 (MART) in the period 15-19 May 2017. The training was held at Jever Air Base in northern Germany.
This year Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy and The United Kingdom participated again in the event. For the first time, Switzerland also attended the training. During this dedicated week, 60 military trained together to undertake aircraft recovery tasking.
The focal point of this particular edition was to pool and share air recovery manning and equipment. The participants trained five different scenarios recovering the following decommissioned German aircraft: one C-160 transport aircraft, two Tornado PA200 combat aircraft, one UH-1D as well as one CH-53 helicopter. The scenarios varied from properly loading an aircraft on a truck without causing any damage, to recovering an aircraft rolled over during landing.
Another key point in this years’ edition was that all the participating nations agreed to create a certification process for the activities conducted in MART trainings. The certification process for the basic level started with MART 2017. Besides the practical training, the participants attended initial academic sessions. The process will continue in 2018 and participants may obtain basic level training certification in aircraft recovery techniques.
MART is being organised since 2012 on a yearly basis. The overall objective is to allow crews to stay sufficiently trained in the area of air recovery and to familiarise less experienced crews with Air Recovery skills.
MART is a unique opportunity for partners to build awareness in the area of Air Recovery and to exchange expertise in this area. It shows EATC’s cooperation capabilities and marks another successfully run training.
