Airport hosts Chinook helicopters

MONTROSE —  Montrose Regional Airport hosted four hefty guests this past week — Chinook MH-47 helicopters, along with 50 of the crafts’ crew members from the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

The 160th, from Fort Campbell, Ky., was using the airport as part of its high-altitude training maneuvers.

“We are the Army’s only special operations helicopter unit,” Kim Laudano, public affairs officer for the 160th, said Friday. “Our job entails flying in all conditions. In Fort Campbell, we really don’t have any mountain ranges. Coming out to your area gives us the opportunity.”

The Chinooks — each with a maximum gross weight exceeding 50,000 pounds — arrived in Montrose Tuesday. They were expected to depart Sunday, Jim Rumble of the airport’s fixed-base operator, Black Canyon Jet Center, said.

Laudano said the bulk of the 160th’s training is being conducted at Fort Carson, in Colorado Springs. Unit members are logging required flight time between the Montrose airport and Fort Carson.

“It’s the most beneficial location for us because of the training that we’re doing,” she said of the airport.

The training operations are standard, Laudano added, and have nothing to do with the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver. “This is absolutely routine for us,” she said.

The Chinook helicopters at Montrose were rehabilitated from the ground up and had new cockpits installed.

Laudano said they are uniquely configured for special operations. “We are the only ones in the Army who fly them. They’re designed to support special operations ground forces,” she said.

“They’re really quite amazing helicopters,” Jeanette Andries, assistant airport administrator, said.