Hastings Airport Association is scheduled for a tour of the NE Army National Guard (NEARNG) Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) in Grand Island on Tuesday, March 29th, at 6 pm.  CW4 Keal Bockelman has generously agreed to give an aviator-focused tour of their facilities and equipment.  Additionally, they will be conducting night operations that evening, so we should have the opportunity to watch the helicopters spin up and depart.  CW4 Bockelman also mentioned the possibility of passing around some night vision goggles (NVG) that they use for night flight.

The facility is located on the SE corner of the Grand Island airport.  See attachments to this email for location and parking descriptions.  Carpooling is encouraged, though not required, due to the relatively small size of their parking lot.  We can fly to GI for the event, but would need to arrange rides from the GA (west) side of the airport to their facility, since civilian aircraft are not allowed on their ramp.  Due to personnel regulations, we won’t be able to take any flights on the aircraft, but should be able to get up close with some parked ones.  That unit flies and maintains UH-72 Lakota and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

The tour will start in their classroom with a brief presentation on aircraft and operations.  From there, we will move to the main hangar for “aircraft inspections”.