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| UH-72 Lakota mid-flight |
If you reside or work within proximity of Capital City Airport (CXY) in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, you are sure to have seen increased helicopter activity in the local airspace. The helicopters you're seeing are the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's UH-72 Lakotas. The Lakotas are designed to fly light general support operations for the Nation Guard. So, why are they flying over New Cumberland, you ask?
The helicopters are in the area as CXY was chosen as the location for the helicopter pilots training facility. CXY was chosen for its proximity to Fort Indiantown Gap, hangar space available for the UH-72s and current use of airspace. CXY was also chosen because Fort Indiantown Gap coult not adequately support the Lakota training mission due to limited hangar and training space and an unallocated federal appropriation, so an alternate location (CXY) was needed. The training mission (facility) at CXY will be in place for five years, after which the plan is to move the training mission to Fort Indiantown Gap in 2016.
The pilots receiving training on the Lakotas are Army National Guard units from 53 states and territories and active Army units primarily from the National Training Center, Joint Readiness Training Center, West Point, Belvoir, and CMTC (Germany) units. The pilots are currently training on eight aircraft and there will eventually be eighteen aircraft in the training fleet. Training is conducted between 7 a.m. to midnight, and during the summer months it will end at 1 a.m. as the days are longer and the pilots need to train in hours of limited visibility.
If you have comments, questions or feedback on the UH-72 Lakota training mission at Capital City Airport, please call the Pennsylvania National Guard public affairs office at (717) 861-8468.
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