Bridging the gap to safer skies

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Krystal Jimenez
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  A representative from McConnell Air Force Base's safety office attended a conference at Kansas State University on Aug. 21, to promote teamwork and safety within the flying community.

Maj. Aaron Stark, 22nd Air Refueling Wing Chief of Flight Safety addressed Kansas State University Aviation Professional Pilot Program's instructor corps on various safety topics in order to help bridge the gap between civilian and military aviators.

"Our purpose here is to educate them about the airspace that is used by both military and civilian aircraft in the local area," said Stark. "It gave us a nice chance to meet each other and build local relationships with our neighbors in the flying community."

The information Stark presented was made available for KSU instructor pilots to share with their students, who are about to begin their academic school year.

"It's important for us to communicate together," said Bob Gross, chief flight instructor. "We deal with a lot of McConnell's traffic here at Salina and in the Wichita area. Now, we have a better idea of what their traffic patterns are. Hopefully, our instructors will be able to pass on the information to their students."

Stark illustrated the importance of civilian and military flight cohesion using real world audio and video samples. He also used examples from his morning flight to the university aboard a private aircraft he flew.

"I think Maj. Stark tried to make the point that we're all a team when we're up in the air and that we need to communicate with each other," said Benjamin Taylor, Kansas State Aviation Professional Pilot Program instructor pilot. "Overall, anything we can do to help each other needs to be communicated."

While civilian and military aviators have always shared the same air spaces, speaking with one another in an open-forum environment helped pilots of McConnell and KSU to stay on the same frequency and keep the skies safe.