Retired Vietnam pilot supports war in Iraq

Published April 2, 2008
By Senior Airman Eric Schloeffel
506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs

KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- As coalition forces help rebuilding the Iraqi air force, a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot working at the Iraqi flight school here watches the process with a sense of familiarity.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Lott Lawson has helped foreign pilots earn their wings throughout his military and civilian career through training programs in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

The retired helicopter instructor pilot now works as a U.S. contractor with the Coalition Air Force Training Team and oversees the maintenance of the Iraqi air force's Beech 350, Cessna 208 Caravan and Cessna 172 aircraft.

At the age of 65, Colonel Lawson is no stranger to the combat zone. He said he still feels obligated to lend his experience and a helping hand to this fledging new air force.

"My main goal for coming over here is to help these Iraqi pilots start flying their own missions," said Colonel Lawson, a resident of Panama City, Fla. "Once that happens, we can send our troops home safe and sound, and I hope I'm around to see that happen.

"I've seen enough of my friends get killed during the Vietnam War and get a tight feeling in my stomach every time we lose a servicemember," he said. "What we are doing here to build Iraq into a stable country is a very important task, and I want to help these efforts so we can eventually get our troops back home."

Colonel Lawson's first experience training foreign pilots came during his second tour of duty in Vietnam in 1969. During the yearlong deployment, he was assigned to an army base in Baghi, Vietnam, and taught Vietnamese pilots to fly UH-1 and OH-23 helicopters.

"There were moments of stark terror followed by great enjoyment," Mr. Lawson said about training foreign pilots. "The language differences were very hard to overcome, and oftentimes they wouldn't understand the instructions I gave them in the aircraft. I was watchful of every move, because sometimes they'd start doing things in those helicopters that they weren't supposed to. The enjoyment came when they started to mature as pilots and could fly up and back without any problems. It was enjoyable to know they progressed to a point where they could be turned loose by themselves."

After retiring from the military in 1983, Colonel Lawson didn't give up his passion for helping pilots earn their wings, as he traveled to Saudi Arabia in 1985 to assist with a flight training operation for their military. Out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Colonel Lawson helped train up to 85 students with the Kawasaki 117 helicopter.

"We were pretty much taking the Saudi Arabian pilots right off the street and putting them in a helicopter," he said. "It was challenging job because most of them had never driven a car, much less flown an aircraft."

He then worked as an airfield manager at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site Range in the Marshall Islands from 1987 to 1992 before retiring in 1993. He went back to work in 1996 and has held aviation-related positions ever since.

"As long as I'm in good health and the good Lord gives me time on this Earth, I feel like I need to be working," said Colonel Lawson, who has more than 15,000 hours of flight experience in 14 different types of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. "I feel without work, I wouldn't have a focus in life."

His return to pilot training occurred in 2006 when he accepted a position as the aviation advisor for the Afghan air corp.

"We were working with the MI-17 helicopters and it was a much different experience than working in Iraq," he said. "In Afghanistan, we didn't have any American instructor pilots, so it was just old retired guys like me who were working with the Afghans."

Colonel Lawson helped oversee the training of more than 275 Afghan pilots, and helped teach classes on basic flight navigation, weather, maintenance -- and more importantly -- English.

"The Taliban had closed many of the traditional schools, so the student pilots we received from Kabul had very little education," he said. "We had to start their training by instruction on English four days each week, which made for a challenging experience."

Soon after returning from his assignment in Afghanistan, Colonel Lawson took his current job as a site manager for the maintenance of Iraqi air force aircraft. Although it takes him away from his typical instructor pilot roles, he said he still feels very much involved in the process of training foreign student pilots.

"Our maintenance efforts, which includes work from U.S. Airmen and civilian contractors, is currently recording a 96.7 percent availability rate for the aircraft we maintain," Colonel Lawson said. "When a problem arises with one of the planes, we fix it promptly so the Iraqi students get back up in the air. The longest they've had to wait on us is an hour, so we feel our efforts have been very successful."

The opening of the helicopter school here later this year is also prompting Colonel Lawson to consider extending his 365-day assignment to Kirkuk AB. Since he is still qualified to fly, he said he hopes to frequent the helicopter school to help train the Iraqi pilots on OH-58 and MI-17 aircraft.

Colonel Lawson said the program here is the best international flight school he's seen during his more than 40-year career as an instructor pilot.

"Our instructor pilots are doing a great job and have a great sense of responsibility to train these pilots, so the Iraqis can start providing air support for their own country," he said. "On the other side of the coin, the Iraqi pilots impress me with both their motivation and performance in the air."

He also said he feels training efforts are drastically benefited from the English-speaking skills of the Iraqi student pilots.

"All the Iraqi pilots have graduated college and speak pretty good English by the time they get here," Colonel Lawson said. "In comparison to my previous experiences, this seems to really help with the training."

During the past year alone, the Iraqi air force has greatly increased the amount of weekly sorties flown and has doubled its number of aircraft. The Iraqi air force currently carries out transportation, supply and surveillance missions. Coalition leaders aim for Iraq to be able to defend their air sovereignty by 2009, said Maj. Gen. Robert R. Allardice, the CAFTT commander.

The Iraqi Flying Training Wing here is expected to reach full operational capacity by July with an end goal of 130 Iraqis earning their wings each year. Upon graduation, Iraqi pilots are assigned to a unit that conducts either an airlift mission with C-130 aircraft or a surveillance mission with King Air 350, Cessna 208 and CH-2000 aircraft.

According to CAFTT reports, Iraqi pilots have even earned some initial operational successes, as an all-Iraqi crew flying on a recent reconnaissance mission spotted several terrorists manufacturing improvised explosive devices. The crewmembers alerted Iraqi police who arrived on-scene soon after to impede the terrorist's efforts.

"We are definitely on the right path here. The flight instruction almost mirrors what we do in the states," Colonel Lawson said. "I often sit outside and watch the takeoffs and landings every day, and there are big differences from when they started. These Iraqi pilots have a great level of perfection and skill, and are accepting all the challenges that lie ahead."

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