One of the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team’s (HDF PRT) tasks is to safely maintain a heliport at Baghlan province.

Nowadays, the commonly called “helipad” has become one of the busiest places in Camp Pannonia. According to HDF PRT S3 Tactical Air Control Party (TACP), the air traffic and the number of helicopter landings has shown an exponential increase since the HDF PRT-1 deployment. (As a matter of curiosity about 20 helicopters landed at the HDF PRT-5.)

To put this into another perspective, during the history of Hungarian PRT (till the end of the HDF PRT-7’s mandate) at about 120 times ISAF or other allied helicopters arrived, while at HDF PRT-8 the rumbling of the engines and the kerosene smell rotor- wind have become commonplace. By now, the number of helicopter arriving at PRT-8 reached 120, and 230 were the number of helicopter landings in total. (What makes the difference between the two numbers is that sometimes one or two choppers return during the same missions.)

More than 108 thousand liters of kerosene has been used by refueling the different-sized choppers in the Hungarian Camp. But what lies beyond the numbers? Today, we have received helicopters three times. What is the real meaning of this simple sentence? Landing and handling helicopters successfully is real teamwork. According to the information of the operational unit, forces and equipment for receiving helicopters are on standby. One of the most important steps is to inspect the heliport by an IED expert.

After the Force Protection soldiers are closing and securing the heliport, from that on, no one is in no one is out. It sounds very easy, though, in reality it is a huge task to close and secure even such a small area as the PRT’s helipad for hours in that climate conditions. The fire service squad and the medical team works according to their professional routine-service at the base helipads. This means that the PRT’s firefighters work in overtime, while fulfilling their fire-service duties together with their own assignments. Soldiers specialized in logistics, communication, IT; drivers, technicians, repairmen are on alert 24/7.

The air operation team controls the helicopter landings, and then together with the crew they coordinate the handling operations. The logistics and the crew are re-fuelling the chopper. There are more and more night landings at Camp Pannonia, due to the operations for a more secure Baghlan province. Helicopters are not only landing while conducting MEDEVAC (medical evacuation) operations.

But the ISAF and allied Afghan National Army commanders are more frequently using our helipad as well. The Hungarian soldiers do what is required day and night in all weather conditions. They carry out their duties and do their overtime cheerfully and prominently thus it is acknowledged internationally. Sometimes the soldiers ask a funny question among themselves: “Is this an airport here?”

(Ministry of Defence)