Stewart Marshall

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Stewart Marshall

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Stewart Marshall

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An initial period of remote ground school covers mission planning, airspace coordination, fire support and emerging battlefield technologies before candidates travel to 438 Squadron. Every student arrives as a qualified Tactical Aircraft Commander, although their operational experience varies considerably. This final period of classroom instruction ensures all candidates share a common baseline of knowledge and exposure to key concepts while establishing the standard expected before they are assessed on mission planning and execution.

"We give the candidates a range of planned missions, starting with a simple insertion and extraction of personnel—one of our core mandates—and gradually building to a complex air assault in a simulated combat zone.” noted Mallet.

"We're asking the candidates to complete the entire mission planning cycle, from receiving an order through to executing the mission.” he explained. "Depending on the complexity, they have two to three days to plan and execute the mission with each candidate leading three missions but participating in six over the duration of the flying phase of the course."

Although 438 THS leads the flying phase of the course, it is not conducted from the unit's home base near Montreal. The lack of military training ranges and the surrounding metropolitan area place significant limitations on high-intensity tactical aviation operations. Instead, personnel and equipment from across 1 Wing deploy to various locations in Canada to execute the flying phase. For this specific iteration, Garrison Petawawa in the Ottawa Valley was chosen with the base providing easy access to the training infrastructure required for the course scenarios. Petawawa is also home to 450 THS, Canada’s sole CH-147F Chinook Squadron, who also form part of 1 Wing. The Squadron plays an important role in the course supporting mission scenarios, albeit without any of their own candidates during this iteration.

Stress Test

The flying phase places candidates under constant pressure through the Air Mission Planning Cycle (AMPC), the structured process used to plan and execute tactical aviation missions. Each candidate is paired with an instructor pilot who follows their performance throughout the course, injecting unexpected developments and assessing how they respond when circumstances no longer match the original plan.

"There is always going to be something unexpected happening." explained Mallet. "You could plan for a month, but as soon as you start executing, things will change. We are assessing their ability to react, make good command decisions and safely execute the mission."

The instructors are not simply looking for candidates who can recover from a problem; they are assessing their thought process, leadership and ability to maintain control of the situation.

For Captain Aaron Williams, a 438 THS instructor and the BTAC Course Director, creating this pressure is a deliberate part of the training.

"Throughout the entire AMPC they're constantly being debriefed and receiving feedback, and over time that continuous assessment can weigh on people," Williams explained. "I tell them to take the feedback on board, apply it as best they can, and keep moving forward. Don't dwell on mistakes - treat them as opportunities to improve and keep fighting until the mission is complete."

By the end of BTAC, instructors are evaluating far more than flying ability. Candidates must demonstrate the judgement, communication skills and situational awareness required to lead a formation through increasingly complex tactical scenarios.

Operating from temporary tents beside the Petawawa flight line, BTAC headquarters mirrors a deployed tactical aviation detachment. Briefing rooms, intelligence cells and operations staff work side by side as candidates move through the AMPC. Each Air Lesson Plan is built around a different tactical scenario, exposing candidates to the breadth of missions expected of a tactical helicopter flight lead. Over the flying phase they conduct ground convoy support, troop insertion and extraction, support-by-fire, medical evacuation and air assault operations, with each serial introducing greater complexity and more rigorous leadership challenges.

For Captain Daniel Clayton, a CH-146 Griffon pilot from 408 THS in Edmonton, one of the most memorable scenarios was a support-by-fire mission. Working alongside a ground force preparing to assault an enemy position, success depended on precise coordination between the air and land elements:

"The ground force had their attack planned down to the second, so we had to calculate our route, speed and timing to arrive overhead exactly when they needed us to begin suppressive fire. It took a huge amount of coordination, not just within our section of aircraft but with the ground force commander as well."

The mission unfolded exactly as planned, with the Griffons arriving on time to support the assault before extracting the troops from the objective. As expected, however, the exercise did not end there. In keeping with the BTAC philosophy of testing candidates under pressure, the instructors introduced an unexpected inject designed to force a rapid reassessment of the situation.

"Once we'd completed the extraction, another vehicle appeared and started engaging us with a simulated MANPADS threat. Our immediate priority was to survive, so we used terrain and tree cover to break contact while relying on our flare countermeasures."

Having escaped the immediate threat, the challenge shifted from flying the aircraft to making tactical decisions. Candidates were expected to consider what supporting assets remained available and determine the most effective response.

"During mission planning we'd identified simulated artillery as an available asset. From my previous Army experience, I knew how to call in artillery fire, so we coordinated a simulated strike against the enemy position. Thankfully, that decision earned the instructors' approval."

For the candidates, scenarios such as these demonstrate that success is determined by far more than flying skill alone. Effective flight leads must be able to anticipate change, adapt quickly when plans unravel, and integrate air and ground capabilities to accomplish the mission.

The Force Behind the Flight

Every successful BTAC mission depends on more than the crews in the cockpit. Behind every sortie is a maintenance organisation working around the clock to keep aircraft serviceable despite an operational tempo that pushes the Griffon fleet far beyond routine squadron flying. The maintenance team supporting BTAC 2601consisted of 33 technicians across three trades: Aviation Systems (AVN), Avionics Systems (AVS), Aircraft Structures (ACS). Working in three rotating crews, they provided maintenance coverage for an aircraft fleet flying multiple missions every day. For Sergeant Olivier Olea Gonzales, an Aviation Systems Technician with 438 THS, BTAC provides a very different environment from normal squadron operations.

"The first major inspection is every 25 flight hours or 30 days. Back home we typically reach the calendar time limit first, but on this course, we're reaching the hours first. Over a 30-day period, we can complete two inspections per aircraft, which is double the workload we would normally see."

Maintaining aircraft availability also requires constant communication between maintainers and aircrew. Mission requirements can change quickly, requiring technicians to balance inspections, repairs and configuration changes against the operational schedule.

"The biggest challenge is reacting to the aircraft requirements day-to-day. Sometimes we receive very little notice on the fuel loads or configuration required for the next mission, so we're constantly adjusting inspection cycles and maintenance priorities."

For the maintenance team, the reward comes from seeing the aircraft launch and knowing their work directly contributes to mission success.

"The biggest satisfaction is hearing those blades turning and knowing they are ready to execute. Even if they encounter a problem, we have a backup aircraft sitting ready. We're making it work as a team and ensuring the course is a success."

While BTAC focuses on developing tactical helicopter flight leads, another course unfolds alongside it. Running concurrently, the Tactical Aviation Intelligence Course (TAIC) trains intelligence personnel in supporting tactical aviation operations, creating an environment in which both courses rely on one another to succeed. TAIC students generate the intelligence estimates, threat assessments and enemy courses of action that underpin every BTAC mission, forcing aircrew to continually reassess their plans as the tactical picture evolves.

"The TAIC with BTAC is very unique. It's one of the only intelligence courses that integrates this closely with aircrews."explained Major Isabelle Delorme, A2 Intelligence Officer at 1 Wing and Course Director of TAIC.

"It comes with challenges. Intelligence personnel are qualified in their trade, but most of our training happens in a controlled environment. Here there are time pressures, fatigue, changing priorities, personalities and unexpected developments that force them to adapt. It's the closest experience they'll get to deployment. That's what makes it unique, but also what makes it so rewarding. They leave having built relationships with people from different units and with a much better understanding of how intelligence supports tactical aviation."

The Graduation Test

The final Air Lesson Plan brought together everything the candidates had learned throughout BTAC. An air assault mission involving nine helicopters tested their ability to plan, coordinate and lead multiple aircraft under operational conditions, with each candidate commanding a section within the larger formation.

Captain Daniel Clayton led a two-aircraft section responsible for escorting CH-147F Chinooks into and out of the landing zone while providing fire support for the ground force.

"The mission required a huge amount of coordination between the different helicopters. Timing was critical, so the planning and communication between the air and ground elements had to be precise."

As with every BTAC mission, the instructors introduced unexpected complications. Simulated enemy threats, fire support requests and a Forward Arming and Refuelling Point (FARP) forced candidates to continually reassess their plans.

"One of the injects I received was that the other aircraft in my formation had a simulated mechanical issue and had to make an emergency landing in the battlespace. That meant I had to provide security while becoming fuel critical and coordinate another aircraft to take over. They always seem to introduce those injects at the best or worst time, depending on your perspective."

For Clayton, the greatest challenge was not flying the aircraft but coping with the relentless pace of planning, execution and assessment.

"The course was mentally exhausting because you never really have enough time to complete all the planning you would like to do. You're constantly being assessed, but the instructors expect mistakes. What they want to see is that you learn from them and improve throughout the course."

By graduation, the candidates had completed the transition from aircraft commander to flight lead.

"Entering the course, you're responsible for one aircraft. By the end, you're thinking about the entire formation and the mission as a whole."

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