High Skill, High altitude, The Gendarmerie Mountain flying Training Center.
High Skill, High Altitude, The Mountain Flying Training Center
Situated in the French ALPS, the town of Briançon houses the Gendarmerie CVM, or Centre de Vol en Montagne, the mountain flying center. The mountain training is a part of the overall training of the Gendarmerie Air Forces (FAGN) pilots and flight engineers. Deputy heads of the Gendarmerie National Helicopter Training Centre Major Orain and Lieutenant Juste give us a deeper look at the tasks and operations of the CVM and its international connections.
The Mountain Flying Training Center itself
The CVM in its current location has existed since 2014 and shares it with the SAG Briançon, but training has been conducted from the previous operational base. In service with the FAGN since 2012 and a mountain flying instructor since 2019, Major Orain is not based at Briançon, but he is currently assigned to the CVM and he is present every quarter to participate in the mountain training courses, he explains:” I have to ensure, under the directives of my chief, the good progress of the training courses followed by the pilots and the flight engineers of the gendarmerie in all the fields and on our three types of helicopters”. These types are the AS350 Écureuil, EC135, and the EC145.
But it’s not just helicopter pilots they train at the CVM, the modern age also requires drone remote pilots to be trained in the mountains, all with the highest standard of safety in mind.
Each FAGN pilot begins their initial training at Dax Flying School of the Army Aviation in southwestern France, alongside pilots from the Army, navy, and Air Force, where they learn to fly the helicopter on the EC120. The training to become a military helicopter pilot at the Dax air school takes about a year and a half and the students must fly about one hundred and thirty hours in real time and twenty hours in the simulator. When they come to the Gendarmerie Air Forces, the pilots also receive their qualification training at BA120 Cazaux on one of the three types of helicopters the FAGN operates (AS350, EC135, EC145). This depends on the unit they are going to. The training is about five weeks and twelve flying hours. After this initial training, they go to their environmental training for the Gendarmerie.
As mentioned previously, at the CVM there is training four times a year, so every season and weather conditions are covered, and usually takes about two weeks to accomplish. There is only one instructor pilot permanently assigned to the CVM, which is Lieutenant Arnaud Juste, once a course starts, the CVM is complemented with additional instructors to make a total of ten. The team is then composed of personnel with different experiences, and most of them are operational pilots of other FAGN Mountain bases, this is to transmit methods and experiences as completely as possible. A week after the pilots have performed their technical qualification on the aircraft, they will come to the CVM to make some more flying hours on their respective type and to do initial training in the mountains, not a full qualification.
The Fleet
The CVM has one AS350 and one EC145 on strength and although they are part of the Gendarmerie Air Forces, they are normally not used for any operational sorties; but for training only. Only in exceptional situations where the normal SAG fleet is sufficient and needs reinforcements, the CVM fleet is used, as was the case during the crash of the Germanwings A320 in 2015. The crash site was hardly reachable by land and there was a high demand for flying officials and investigators to the crash site.
The helicopters used by the CVM are equipped like any other unit of the FAGN, the only modification is done in wintertime when fitted with snow skids. Flying in higher altitudes impacts engine performance, and when there is a compromise required between aircraft weight and performance, the helicopter goes on a quick diet. The crews often land at a base camp to offload equipment and personnel not required for the mission, to reach the rescue point, making as many round trips as needed to rescue everybody.
The training to fly in the mountains at night
The pilots must perform training to fly with Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) before they come into a mountain air unit. They need to have a minimum of seventy hours of NVG flights and two hundred hoist operations by daylight and then they pass a training which takes one week with about five hours of flying. To perform in the mountains, they need to train each crew every year for more than twelve hours (minimum).
“We train the pilots in night flying as we do by day. We make about the same for landing, and we perform these training flights in every kind of terrain like at high altitude and low altitude, snow, dry, very nights, and full moon conditions – the light conditions are quite different by night and through the NVGs. We need to train regularly to get them used to them (no relief through the NVGs)”, Lt. Juste explains.
The different training phases
Lieutenant Juste about the selection process: “The selection is performed before the training which is one week of flying and a motivational interview with our instructors. The candidates are volunteers, and they must let us know by informing their hierarchy and they must hold at least a thousand flight hours”.
The mountain flying training course is made up of four stages after the rating week. The first phase is the elementary phase. During this phase, the pilots learn the basic mountain terrain and work on the flying skills without any horizon reference, security of the paths, and aerologic analysis. The second phase is the fundamental phase. During this phase, they will learn the analysis methods in all types of areas and hardening on the EC145 C2. The third phase is the development phase. During this phase, the pilots will analyze methods in rough terrains, and snow landings, working in areological and in degraded (unfavorable) weather conditions. The fourth and the latest phase is the synthesis phase. During this phase, they train the operational rescue management. As said before, this training takes eight weeks plus the qualification rating on the EC145 C2 helicopter.
The different difficulties of flying in the mountains
Flying in the mountains can be challenging for inexperienced pilots. The unique conditions in mountainous areas require pilots to navigate confined environments and airspaces, often in harsh weather. This can push the helicopter to its limits, especially when multiple factors come into play. Lieutenant Juste noted, “As a pilot in the mountains, you must have a thorough understanding of your helicopter’s performance, be able to assess the situation accurately, make safety decisions, and know when to engage appropriately.”
There are also specific circumstances when pilots cannot fly. One key reason is extremely poor weather conditions at either the departure location or the rescue site. In such cases, pilots have no choice but to abort their mission.
After completing their training at the CVM, pilots are qualified to fly in mountainous terrain. However, they must continue to train with crew members and rescuers from their future unit. Additionally, they are required to conduct reconnaissance flights to familiarize themselves with obstacles, drop zones, and the challenges present in the area.
The training of the hoist operators at the CVM
Besides the pilots, the hoist operators are trained at the CVM. This course takes about two weeks. All the candidates are volunteers, and they pass by a selection during three days of security briefing, knowledge, hoist operations, ease or ability in confined spaces and high altitudes. “The training takes two weeks. The hoist operators perform hoist operations in the different spaces we have here like the canyons, high altitudes, forests, snow, and snow lifts in the ski resorts. Besides this, they also improve their skills in the areas of the rescue missions and their involvement in the security of the helicopter and the people they carried with them”, Lieutenant Juste added.
Performing a rescue mission in the mountains
When a 112 call is received, it is forwarded to the Departmental Fire and Rescue Operations Center. The employee who answers the call first tries to calm the caller down by asking for their name and gathering as much information as possible about their location and the nature of the incident. This information helps the employee assess what kind of assistance is needed. After collecting the details, the employee contacts the air unit of the gendarmerie (SAG) in Briançon to relay the report.
Once the DAG in Briançon receives the rescue alert, whether by phone or radio, they conduct a briefing using the information provided. During this briefing, they discuss the type of alert, the location, the weather conditions, the urgency of the situation, and the number of people involved. After the briefing, the team flies to a nearby hospital to pick up a doctor and then proceeds directly to the specific rescue location. During the flight, they brief the crew members, rescuers, and the doctor on the local situation and their roles in the mission.
For a rescue operation, the helicopter team typically consists of one pilot, a hoist operator, two rescuers, and one doctor. The crew members’ responsibilities include maintaining flight safety, navigating, conducting hoist operations, and managing the passengers. The rescuers focus on securing the individuals involved and coordinating the overall rescue operation. The doctor is responsible for stabilizing the patient for transport to the hospital.
Helicopters do not require modifications to operate at high altitudes; rather, it is a balance between the helicopter’s performance and the height of the rescue site. Often, the team must land at a base camp to lighten the helicopter by removing rescue equipment, rescuers, or even the doctor. Without offloading some weight, reaching the rescue point may not be possible, and the team will perform as many return flights as necessary.
Lieutenant Juste explains, “We wear appropriate suits and jackets for the prevailing weather conditions. Additionally, there is a rescue bag in the helicopter for emergency landings, containing everything needed to survive independently for several days, such as winter clothing, food, and water. To land on snow, our helicopters are also equipped with snow skids.”
International relations
The CVM doesn’t just train French Gendarmerie crews (pilots and flight engineers), there are long-running international connections with the Spanish Guardia Civil air forces, Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie air forces, and further down the past, there have been exchanges with Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. The corporation with the Guardia Civil started back in 2020 and once per year they travel to Spain to train with them and once per year, the Spanish come to the CVM. For them, it was the application of a method for landing in the mountains and winching. They know these techniques because they normally train in the South of the Pyrenees for mountain rescue, but they came to France to seek the expertise in mountain flying that the French Gendarmerie has set up at the CVM in Briançon which has incredibly unique training in the world. The training of the pilots and flight engineers takes about fifteen days. The Moroccan connection goes even back further to 2012, and up to today, it is still highly active. The instructors travel to Morocco to train the pilots several times per year, and they also welcome them at the CVM. The main goal is to adapt to their needs, but they give them the same training as they would do in France.
We would like to thank Major Orain, Lieutenant Juste from the CVM, and Captain Lahri from the HQ of the Gendarmerie Air Forces for their help in making this possible.
