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(Continued from Page 23) Perhaps the most demanding missions the unit faces are firefighting missions. In the summer time, there are several mountain and forest wildfires. Lt. Col. Bogdanoski explains: “You have to take a lot of water in one hour. For example, one cycle is around five or ten minutes maximum. That means, every five minutes, you have to take water, and in the next five minutes you have to drop the water on target.” He recalls a particularly hard to fight fire: “In 2007 we flew seven hours per day firefighting missions for a few days in succession. It was totally exhausting, when you go home, you feel broken.”
Because of the lack of equipment, the North Macedonian Air Brigade hasn’t gone on missions or exercises abroad in recent years. Bogdanoski’s last exercise abroad was in 2012 and took place in Szolnok in Hungary. He recalls, “In that exercise were pilots from Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and they were also flying the same types of helicopters. At the end of the exercise, we had a crew exchange, where we flew in each others aircraft. When you are using one type of helicopter, for example, Mi-17, you must follow the rules for that type. That means that they are flying with more or less the same principles. It was a good experience for us to fly with other helicopters.”
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APJ/JEROEN VAN VEENENDAAL