Big day for 11 fresh helicopter pilots from 3 nations.

At the IHTC "International Helicopter Training Centre," in addition to the many German flight students, about 10 young foreign soldiers are trained as helicopter pilots every year.

After the final exam, the new pilots were able to invite their families and national superiors to the ceremonial pilot license award at the Helicopter Museum.

With the musical accompaniment of the museum quintet and the European anthem, the commander of the IHTC welcomed the guests from the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden to the grand event marking the new chapter in every pilot's life.

After the pilot march, the ceremony was then carried out in a festive manner with the presentation of the certificate and the pinning of the German pilot badge.

To conclude, the four national anthems were played, and afterwards the new helicopter pilots were released for congratulations and a champagne reception.

We wish the new participants always a hand’s breadth of air under the skids/wheels. The next pilot license award ceremony for foreign pilots is already scheduled, always on the Thursday before Christmas Eve.

And from here, a big compliment and a thank you for the good work of the flight instructors, to the many other soldiers of the supporting ground forces, and of course to the commander, the lecture hall leaders, the troop instructors, and much more. THANK YOU!

A small note:

on average, each new pilot had 6.8 family members attending the ceremony... 75 guests for 11 honorees. Consider also the long distance to Northern Sweden 😀 That’s truly excellent!