Appointment of the first NCO ‘Aircraft Commander’ in the Spanish Navy

The Ministerial Order 54/2021 of October 25th made provisions for Non-commissioned officers AVP (aircraft vessel pilot) to become aircraft Commanders.

Last Thursday, August 11th 2022, the first appointment of a NCO Navy pilot as ‘H-500 Commander’ took place. Sergeant Carlos Ortiz Sotomayor made his first flight as ‘Aircraft Commander’ on Friday 19th 2022 at the controls of the ARGO 15.

Non-commissioned officers have been eligible for the AVP specialty since 2016 and in order to be appointed ‘Aircraft Commander’ they have to pass the same requirements demanded for AVP Officers. In the case of the Sixth Aircraft Squadron that means: more than 300 hours of total pilot time; having completed an ad-hoc course of the Hugues 500 model; having flown 30 hours as sole pilot; passing a specific procedures exam; and finally passing a flight test with the Squadron Commander.

Sergeant Carlos Ortiz joined the Spanish Navy as a sailor at the ‘Antonio de Escaño’ Specialties School in 2011. He subsequently attended the NCO School in 2013 and graduated as Sergeant in 2016. He completed the Naval Pilot course in Armilla (Granada) in 2017 and joined the Sixth Squadron’s workforce in 2018. He currently accumulates a total of 527 flight hours, and 405 in the Hugues-500 model.