Columbus AFB pilots compete in turkey shoot competition

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Christopher Gross
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
Twenty-three teams from six of Columbus Air Force Base’s flying squadrons competed in a “turkey shoot” competition here Oct. 26, competing in skeet shooting, low-level flying and landings.
Teams of three from the 37th, 41st, 43rd, 48th and 50th Flying Training Squadrons and the 49th Fighter Training Squadron competed in the three events and were scored out of a possible 300 points.
Lt. Col. Tom McElhinney, 43rd FTS Operations Officer, said pilots have continuation requirements they must meet every six months, like landing and low-level flying, and this was a fun way to meet these requirements.
“As opposed to the day-to-day grind, of ‘I’m just going out and doing a landing,’ now it’s ‘How precise can that landing be? How precise can I be over this target?’” McElhinney said. “Where a lot of times, 10 or 15 or 20 seconds isn’t a big deal, well, today it is.”
During the skeet shooting portion of the competition, shooters were given a shotgun and had 25 clays to shoot at, with a total possible score of 100.
The low-level piece of the competition had two parts. First, the pilots had to pass by an identified target during a certain time. They lost a point for every second they were early or late. The second part included identifying a target. During the low-level, they had to identify the make and color of a vehicle that was sitting in a designated area.
Landing was the third part of the competition and pilots were given a point and judged on the precision and quality of their landing.
“It gave us a good way, a fun way to go out there and get the training requirements accomplished that we needed to,” said Maj. Reed Martin, 37th FTS Chief of Standard and Evaluation, who was also a member of the overall winning team.
Other members of Martin’s team included Capts. Mike Butler and Chad Aukerman, both Assistant Chiefs of Training for the 37th FTS. Their team had a combined score of 246 points.
Martin said one of the biggest obstacles included navigating flying portions of the competition without any GPS. As instructor pilots, he said it’s a fundamental skill they teach their students, but don’t get much practical use themselves.
Organizing the event, McElhinney said another obstacle was planning a competition that involved three airframes and making it fair for each them. Airframes included the T-1A Jayhawk, T-6A Texan II and the T-38 Talon, and each have their own limitations and requirements.
Regardless of the airframe, this was a chance for pilots to see how they compare to others that fly the same airframe, while also bringing to light their strengths and weaknesses.
“I just like the competition; as a pilot, I kind of like to see where I’m at versus everybody else,” McElhinney said. “Sometimes you think you’re maybe not as good as you are or maybe you think that you’re better than you are. This answers it, it’s pretty objective.”
The winning group received gift cards for base organizations, a trophy and three-day pass. Winning groups from each of the squadrons also received a three-day pass.