Advanced Helicopter Training

US Navy 040915-N-3659B-002 TH-57 Sea Ranger Helicopters sit on the flight line at Millington Municipal Airport

Advanced Helicopter Training is the last phase of flight school for

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

and

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

pilots. Training is accomplished at

NAS Whiting Field Naval Air Station Whiting Field is a United States Navy base located near Milton, Florida, with some outlying fields near Navarre, Florida, in south and central Santa Rosa County, Florida, Santa Rosa County, and is one of the Navy's two primary pi ...

Milton, Florida Milton is a city in and the county seat of Santa Rosa County, Florida, located in the Pensacola– Ferry Pass– Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as the Pensacola Metropolitan Area. Milton is located in the geographic center ...

. All training is done in Bell TH-57 Sea Rangers. Advanced training is approximately six months long, and is divided into ten phases: *Ground school: aircraft systems, local course rules, emergency procedures *Familiarization: hovering, basic helicopter maneuvers *Tactics: confined-area landings, external load operations, high-speed landings *Trans-fams: familiarization in the instrument capable TH-57C model *Basic instruments (BIs): common instrument scans *Radio instruments (RIs): instrument approaches, basic instrument navigation *Visual/instrument navigation: cross-country navigation *Low-level navigation: visual navigation below 500 feet AGL *Formation: section formation maneuvers *Night familiarization/ NVGs Three squadrons perform advanced helicopter training:

HT-8 Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHT (HT-8) is a United States Navy helicopter training squadron based at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, FL. The squadron's mission is helicopter pilot training for U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps and U. ...

Eightballers,

HT-18 Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHTEEN (HT-18) is a United States Navy helicopter training squadron based at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Florida. The squadron's mission is helicopter pilot training for U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps ...

Vigilant Eagles and

HT-28 Helicopter Training Squadron 28 (HT-28) is a United States Navy helicopter training squadron based at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Florida. The squadron, known as the ''Hellions'', is one of three Advanced Helicopter Training squadro ...

Hellions. Training is also done for the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

and for the navies and marines of several allied countries, including

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. United States naval aviation United States Coast Guard Aviation {{US-mil-stub