The Mission of the Fixed Wing ARNG Aviation Training Site is to conduct individual aircrew training in modernized fixed wing aircraft operated by the Army National Guard. Emphasis is on aircraft and instructor qualification courses under the Total Army School System (TASS). Additional aviation standardization and safety training is conducted at the direction of the National Guard Bureau and the U.S. Army’s Operational Support Airlift Agency.

The aviation training facility is the result of detailed planning and vision by leaders in the Army National Guard. The 35,000 square foot building is unique in the Army in that it is the only structure designed specifically for the conduct of fixed wing training. Some of the special hangar features include: vertically opening hangar doors, translucent hangar panels that allow natural light into the maintenance area, and a four-thousand pound capacity overhead crane that traverses across seventy-five percent of the hangar work area.

The administrative section of the building includes office space for cadre members, five automated classrooms, a flight operations area, and a flight planning room that includes automated weather and flight planning capability. A computer-assisted classroom with distance learning and video teleconferencing equipment is now operational. A simulator training room will house FAA certified flight training devices that will be used for initial, recurrent and advanced training.

The training site presently operates four C-12 Hurons (Beechcraft), three C-23 Sherpas (Short Brothers), and one C-26 Metroliner (Fairchild Aircraft).

The Fixed Wing ARNG Aviation Training Site presently employs thirty people made up of military instructor cadre and support staff, civilian maintenance contractors who perform aircraft maintenance, facility maintenance and security. The military organization may receive additional personnel in the future to accommodate increasing training requirements.

The Army National Guard trains approximately two hundred aircrew members per year at North Central West Virginia Airport since 1992. FWAATS hosts Army aviators and flight engineers from across the country and students routinely state that their training experience and stay here in West Virginia was the finest of their military and aviation careers.

Contact

Commanding Officer

Fixed Wing Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (FWAATS)

1000 Fixed Wing Drive

Bridgeport, WV 26330

Ph: (304) 842-8870

Fax: (304) 201-3829

Email: [email protected]

URL: FWAATS (ng.mil)