Professional Pilot, January 2016
DC AREA VIGILANCE 12th Aviation Battalion at Davison shuttles top brass in Black Hawks Army VIP unit transports high ranking offi cers and also serves as ready response unit 98 PROFESSIONAL PILOT January 2016 R oughly 17 miles south of the Pentagon is Davison Army Airfi eld DAA Fort Belvoir VA The 12th Aviation Battalion is based at DAA and provides rotary wing VIP transport for the Armys Military District of Washington MDW and Joint Forces Headquarters National Capital Region JFHQ NCR which pretty much means the Pentagon This battalion is 1 of 2 fl ight detachments that provide VIP transport for the Armys senior leadership as well as Congressional delegations or top offi cials of other government agencies traveling in support of Army operations Joint Base Andrews in Prince Georges County MD is the home of the Armys other VIP fl ight detachment the US Army Priority Air Transport USAPAT fi xed wing detachment This unit fl ies Gulfstream and Citation corporate jets in support of the Armys worldwide requirements Pro Pilot May 2009 p 70 These 2 VIP fl ight detachments are under the command of the Army Air Operations Group AAOG headquartered at Ft McNair Washington DC The 12th Av Battalion is commanded Lt Col Edward Meyers a 22 year Army Aviation veteran who has logged some 1100 fl ight hours and is rated in the Bell OH58 Kiowa and Sikorsky UH60A Black Hawk The unit is made up of 6 companies 5 specifi cally dedicated to aviation support for MDW and JFHQ NCR These include 3 aviation units fl ying UH VH60 Black Hawks a maintenance company and the headquarters company The battalion also contains a unique engineering company assigned to the organization following the Sep 11 attack on the Pentagon This unit appropriately named the 911th US Army Technical Rescue Engineer Company 911th TREC trains to be an early responder to any disaster natural or manmade that might occur in the MDW and JFHQ NCR area The 12th Av Battalion unfurled its colors at Davison AAF in 1994 taking on the duties of VIP transport for the Pentagon as part of a reorganization of aviation assets at Davison The history of the VIP rotary wing fl ight detachment however goes back to 1955 when Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was looking for a better way to get to President Eisenhowers retreat at Shangri La todays Camp David Lt Col Edward Meyers took command of the 12th Av Battalion in mid 2015 He is a high time helo pilot qualifi ed in both the Bell OH58D Kiowa Warrior and the Sikorsky UH60 Black Hawk By Douglas Nelms Former US Army aviator Contributing Writer 12th Aviation Battalions Sikorsky UH60A Black Hawks and Airbus UH72A Lakotas in training fl ight over the Potomac River in Washington DC Photos courtesy US Army
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