By Captain Lachlan Simond

THE Australian Chinook detachment has achieved a major milestone, racking up 1000 operational flying hours on combat operations over Afghanistan.

The group, which has operated out of Kandahar Airfield in the south for nearly a year, has achieved results out of proportion to its size.

Chinook detachment commander Lt-Col Mick Prictor said the 1000-hour mark was cracked in January during a combined Australian-US aviation operation to support a relief in place for a Romanian battalion.

“As is the norm, we were working with US Black Hawks, Chinooks and Apaches in support of another significant coalition partner,” Lt-Col Prictor said.

However, the event passed without the crew even realising.

Crew member Cpl Les Parker said: “We were aware that the 1000-hour mark was approaching, but I guess we were so focused on the job at hand, we didn’t even realise for a couple of days that we had the honour of achieving the milestone”.

Other crew members who took part in the flight were Capt Jason Otter, Capt Paul Ralph, Cpl Alex Hortle and Sgt Lee Maloney.

One thousand hours flown without serious incident or accident demonstrated the pace and the tempo of the operations, Lt-Col Prictor said.

“It is at least twice the amount of flying time two aircraft would normally accrue in a year and the detachment has achieved that on combat operations in Afghanistan,” he said.

The detachment provides one third of the US medium lift helicopter capability in southern Afghanistan. Lt-Col Prictor said aircraft and crews were interchangeable with the US, and Australia was treated as an equal partner.

“Our pilots are often the air mission commanders on combined US-Australian missions,” he said.

With many remote coalition forward operating bases scattered throughout the area of operations, the Chinook is the workhorse of southern Afghanistan.

Capt Otter said: “These are a great bunch of guys, working in a demanding environment and they are certainly equal to the task.

“A thousand hours is just a number but it does signify how much the men and women of 5 Aviation Regiment have achieved while on this mission.”

The Chinook detachment will finish its deployment in April.

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