Blue Tail Flies host German counterparts

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Markus M. Maier
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  In the spirit of partnership, the 37th Airlift Squadron hosted eleven of their counterparts from the German Luftwaffe here Oct. 25 through 29.

The German Airmen, along with two C-160D Transall aircraft assigned to the Lufttransportgeschwader 62, traveled from Flugplatz Wunstorf to spend week training with the Blue Tail Flies in an effort to learn about each other's procedures and capabilities.

"We took them out to our local drop zone to see the different aircraft fly together in a formation and drop the same type of equipment," Capt. Matt Macfarlane, 37th AS tactics officer said. "We also took them to one of our local landing zones."

These joint training missions allowed the aircrews to compare and take notes on how well they could work together during potential real-world missions.

"We work things very similarly for the most part," Captain Macfarlane said. "We use a lot of the same type of procedures and use our crew resource management in a similar manner. But there are definitely some differences."

One major difference he observed, is the German aircraft drop their loads at a lower altitude than U.S. aircraft, which in a combined mission would need to be taken into consideration. There were also some compatibility issues between the some of their systems.

"There are differences in how the C-130s and the C-160s are being operated," said German Maj. Stefan Schipke, the unit's squadron leader. "This training was very valuable and allowed us better understand how different nations work with different types of aircraft."

He added that he was very impressed with the men and women of the 37th AS and that his crew really enjoyed this experience.

"The 37th is very well organized," the major said. "They also took great care of us. Everybody here is very friendly and helpful. We really enjoyed out stay here."