433rd Airlift Wing

Two pilots from Brazil (center) and Indonesia (right), learn about the fire-suppression control panel on the C-5A Galaxy from 2nd Lt. Mike Blakley. Blakley is a C-5A pilot assigned to the 68th Airlift Squadron, 433rd Airlift Wing. Both pilots are students at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center located on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Pilots visited the wing to learn more about flying the C-5 from those pilots who actually fly the massive jet. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Elsa Martinez)

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Maj. Chris Melton, center, a C-5A Galaxy pilot assigned to the 68th Airlift Squadron, explains the jet’s complex digital navigation panel, to two pilots from Iraq (left) and Ukraine (right). Both pilots are students from the Defense Language Institute English Language Center on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Both foreign pilots visited the “Alamo Wing” on Jan. 24 to learn about real-world C-5 Galaxy flying from actual C-5 pilots. The 68th Airlift Squadron is one of two flying squadrons assigned to the 433rd Airlift Wing, a C-5A equipped, Air Force Reserve unit also located on JBSA-Lackland. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Elsa Martinez)

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Foreign pilots from DLIELC visit "Alamo Wing," learn about C-5 flying from C-5 pilots

Published Jan. 29, 2013
By Elsa Martinez
433 AW

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Four foreign pilots who are students at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center, located at Joint Base San Antonio-Texas, visited the 433rd Airlift Wing on Jan. 24 to learn about flying the C-5A Galaxy from actual C-5 pilots.

The four pilots, who hail from Indonesia, Iraq, Brazil, and Ukraine, are attending DLIELC to acquire English proficiency so they can train at various military bases here in the United States. Maj. Chris Melton and 2nd Lt. Mike Blakley, both C-5 pilots from the wing's 68th Airlift Squadron, took their guests on a walk-through tour of the C-5 and shared with them their flying experiences aboard the massive jet.

The 433rd AW is a C-5A equipped, Air Force Reserve unit that is also located at JBSA-Lackland. The 68th AS is one of two flying squadrons assigned to the "Alamo Wing."