Training Course Catalog

P1AR course catalog provides a variety of training options for Operators engaged in multiple operational environments. Our instructors come from many different fields and provide world-class training.

Priority 1 Air Rescue provides specifically suited training courses targeted for Operators engaged in Helicopter Search and Rescue, Military/MOD, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Fire and Rescue, Law Enforcement, Industry/Utility Power Linemen, and Offshore Oil and Gas operations. 

A Certificate will be issued to students who successfully complete the required program performance standards. On successful completion, students will receive certification to FAA (FARS), EASA SPA-100, and Transport Canada (CARS) training. 

Overview

Course Design

Priority 1 Air Rescue (P1AR) is well known internationally for being a full-service training partner providing the entire bandwidth of helicopter air-crew SAR/Tactical mission training for commercial, para-public, and military/DOD helicopter operators. Historically, like many others in the industry, traditional hoist mission training began with ground school, some static aircraft practice, and was then followed by live flight training which was generally conducted at the customers location. We still provide a large amount of training in this method, and it is still effective. For years P1AR has strived to advance cohesive, integrated, and result oriented live flight training in a ‘modern methodology’ environment since we started in 1999. Although mission training can be conducted in this traditional method, we felt there was a huge gap for ab-initio students learning hoist SAR between the classroom and static aircraft practice to the live flight portion.

In early 2012, after almost a year of evaluation and trial, P1AR made the decision and commitment to revolutionize the approach how rear-crews were provided training by creating the first commercially available Search and Rescue Tactical Training Academy (SART/TAC) dedicated to a full mission spectrum for Law Enforcement and Public Safety agencies. Combined with our comprehensive courseware and live flight mission training experience and taking an innovative customer centric approach to improve SAR and Tactical mission training, we have implemented rear-crew mission training simulators allowing student participants to truly learn at a controlled ‘crawl, walk, run’ pace at every application and correlating level of learning.

P1AR operates two SART/TAC facilities located in Mesa, Arizona (US) and in Bordeaux (France), and have gained years of proven experience with refining the modalities of our instructor led training programs and providing successful training for our customers. Each SART/TAC facility offers the availability to conduct initial, basic, advanced, and recurrent hoist rescue, aerial use of force/gunnery, fast-rope/rappel, external Load, air ambulance/HEMS, helicopter Bambi-bucket fire-fighting, NVG mission, and even basic rear-crew type conversion training. The SART/TAC facilities both incorporate purpose-built training aids and leading-edge technology classrooms for better a student experience. We offer improved educational solutions with a Hoist Procedural Towers (HPT) which is configurable for multiple aircraft types and model combinations and the Virtual Hoist Simulators (VHS). Synthetic mission training allows for a stronger application and correlation level of learning while reducing the customers overall live flight training time by an average of 50%, providing a significant cost savings to the customer.

SAR/MEDEVAC/Fire/Utility

Live Flight and Safety Training

  • TR01

    P1AR Basic Inland SAR Mission Hoist Training

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic SAR Hoist Training Course meets and exceeds the training standards of the Civil Aviation Authority. This syllabus is designed to provide participants with the most current information on helicopter safety, mission preparation, emergency response, hazard mitigation, and technical rescue procedures for personnel performing Inland hoist SAR missions.

  • TR02

    P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Flood/Swift Water Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Flood/Swift Water Training Course is specifically tailored for operators responding to Inland water SAR missions. This training course will provide the pilots and aircrews with an overview of forces created by water hydraulic flow as well as their expected behavior, and the knowledge and training practice involved to conduct flood / swift water rescues. This course includes classroom, static aircraft practice, flight demonstrations and practice, and scenario-based training.

  • TR03

    P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Mountain/ Cliff Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Mountain/Vertical Surface Cliff Rescue Training Course is designed to provide participants the training and practice to perform these challenging and often highly complex missions. This training course will provide the pilots and aircrews with the knowledge and techniques involved to conduct hoist operations in Mountainous and Vertical surface environments.

  • TR04

    P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Maritime Vessel Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Maritime/Boat Vessel Hoist Rescue course syllabus is designed to provide participants the training and practice to perform helicopter SAR Operations over maritime vessels in an open water environment. This course includes classroom, static aircraft practice, flight demonstrations and practice, and scenario-based training.

  • TR05

    P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Ocean Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Ocean course (maritime/open water SAR) syllabus is designed to provide participants with training, practice and ability to perform helicopter SAR Ocean Rescue in an open water environment. This course includes classroom, static aircraft practice, flight demonstrations and practice, and scenario-based training.

  • TR06

    P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Night Unaided Hoist Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Night Vision Goggle (NVG) Hoist Rescue Training Course is designed to be custom tailored to fit customer’s operational night mission requirements. The P1AR Night NVG Hoist Training Course encompass the most up-to-date technology, information, techniques and procedures for implementing Night NVG in a new or pre-existing aviation program. Training courses are customized and categorized according to the level of experience of the customer and the requirements of the customer to ensure that all aspects are completed safely and efficiently.

  • TR07

    P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Night NVG Hoist Recue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Night Vision Goggle (NVG) Hoist Rescue Training Course is designed to be custom tailored to fit customer’s operational night mission requirements. The P1AR Night NVG Hoist Training Course encompass the most up-to-date technology, information, techniques and procedures for implementing Night NVG in a new or pre-existing aviation program. Training courses are customized and categorized according to the level of experience of the customer and the requirements of the customer to ensure that all aspects are completed safely and efficiently.

  • TR08

    P1AR Annual Recurrent Hoist Rescue Training

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic SAR Hoist Training Re-Currency Training Course meets and exceeds the training standards of the Aviation Authority. This syllabus is designed to provide participants with the most current information on helicopter safety, mission preparation, emergency response, hazard mitigation, and technical rescue procedures for personnel performing helicopter rescue/special operations. This 9 modules course includes classroom, static aircraft practice, flight demonstrations and practice, and scenario-based training.

  • TR09

    P1AR Basic Short Haul / Special Insertion and Extraction (SPIE)

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic Short Haul/SPIE Training Course covers operational instruction for Human External Cargo SAR/Tactical missions and HEC Short Haul/SPIE planning, flight strategies, emergency procedures, use of proper short haul equipment, cargo hooks, Portable Safety Devices (PSD), and incident risk management.

  • TR10

    Utility Lineman, Tower Crane or Wind Turbine Specific Course

    Reserved for Utility Lineman, Tower Crane, or Turbine industry (contact us for details)

  • TR11

    MEDEVAC/Air Ambulance Specific Course

    Reserved for MEDEVAC/Air Ambulance (contact us for details)

  • TR12

    P1AR Basic Aerial Firefighting Mission/Utility External Load

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic Aerial Firefighting/ External Load Training Course covers operational instruction for fire suppression missions including planning, flight strategies, water sources, equipment inspection and installation, fire suppression tactics, communication, coordination with ground crews, command and control, and incident management. This course includes the option of either external bucket or belly mounted fire suppression equipment.

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  • TR17

    P1AR HUET (Helicopter Underwater Egress Training) Course

    P1AR utilizes a full immersion/inversion dunker capable of inducing day and night disorientation. It is through this training that P1AR emphasizes to students the importance of aircraft reference points while egressing out of the aircraft. Water survival training culminates with HUET/water survival scenario training whereby the students must brace for impact, egress the underwater escape training device with/without the use of in a day and night (blackout goggles) scenario and then upon surfacing inflate their life preserver and perform basic survival techniques.

  • TR18

    P1AR HUET and Aviation Water Survival Course

    P1AR utilizes the use of a full immersion/inversion dunker capable of inducing day and night disorientation. It is through this training that P1AR emphasizes to students the importance of aircraft reference points while egressing out of the aircraft. Water survival training culminates with HUET/water survival scenario training whereby the students must brace for impact, egress the underwater escape training device with/without the use of in a day and night (blackout goggles) scenario and then upon surfacing inflate their life preserver and swim to and climb into the life-raft. P1AR’s training syllabus for HUET and Aviation water survival is more comprehensive training and includes Helicopter Underwater Emergency Breathing Apparatus (HUEBA) or SEA bottle training, rafts, cold water gear, and emergency equipment, and also includes hazards to aircraft and personnel during overwater operations, and the appropriate actions to egress from the aircraft safely. Training includes preparation, pre-ditching considerations and procedures, emergency ditching and evacuation procedures, emergency egress from different attitudes and exits,

Search and Rescue Tactical Training Academy

(Mesa/Bordeaux)

  • SART01

    SART/TAC P1AR Basic Inland SAR Mission Hoist Training

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic Inland SAR Mission Hoist Training Course meets and exceeds the training standards of the Civil Aviation Authority. This syllabus is designed to provide participants with the most current information on helicopter safety, mission preparation, emergency response, hazard mitigation, and technical rescue procedures for personnel performing helicopter rescue hoist operations. This 9 modules course includes classroom, equipment practice, Virtual Hoist Simulation, Hoist Procedural Tower practice, and scenario-based mission training. Course participant evaluation will be written knowledge tests and practical examinations will be in a skills checklist format. Upon successful completion course participants will have a Basic level of capability and proficiency to enable them to operate the ancillary equipment to respond to day hoist missions within 15 minutes.

  • SART02

    SART/TAC P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Maritime Vessel Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Advanced SAR Mission Maritime/Boat Vessel Hoist Rescue course syllabus is designed to provide participants with training, practice and ability to perform helicopter SAR Operations over maritime vessels in a 360o Virtual Reality/Simulated environment. Students are provided hoist training opportunities to various types of vessels in various sea states. Students conduct Parallel, Standard and DIW hoist approaches. This course is designed to also test the students’ knowledge on hoist emergency procedures while introducing day changing Beaufort Sea states. This course includes classroom, equipment practice, Virtual Hoist Simulation, Hoist Procedural Tower practice, and scenario-based mission training.

  • SART03

    SART/TAC P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Ocean Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Advanced SAR Mission: Ocean Rescue course syllabus is designed to provide participants with training, practice and ability to perform helicopter SAR Operations over open ocean water in a Virtual Simulated environment. Training encompasses standard best industry standard for Rescue Swimmer (RS) deployment/recovery procedural checks for free fall, sling augmented dual person pickup and RS direct deployment with associated survivor rescue procedures using rescue basket, harness pickup, strop pickup. P1AR’s VHS hoist cable has accurate cable physics to represent actual hoist cable actions providing students a safe and standard practical means to practice hoist cable management, hoist emergency procedures and better comprehend dynamic cable physics (i.e., hoist catenary, cable spins, oscillations, pendulums, hoist entanglements etc) when hoisting to RS in open-ocean environments.

  • SART04

    SART/TAC US Coast Guard Helicopter Flight Mechanic (FM)

    Overwater-Maritime Qualification Training

    Reserved for DHS and DOD (contact us for details)

  • SART05

    SART/TAC MEDEVAC/Air Ambulance

    Reserved for MEDEVAC/Air Ambulance (contact us for details)

  • SART06

    SART/TAC P1AR Advanced SAR Mission: Night Unaided and NVG Hoist Rescue

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Night Unaided and/or Night Vision Goggle (NVG) Hoist Rescue Training Course is a standardized program but is designed to be custom tailored to fit customer’s operational night mission requirements. The P1AR Night/NVG Hoist Training Course encompass the most up-to-date technology, information, techniques and procedures for implementing Night/NVG in a new or pre-existing aviation program. Training courses are customized and categorized according to the level of experience of the customer and the requirements of the customer to ensure that all aspects are completed safely and efficiently. This course includes classroom, equipment practice, Virtual Hoist Simulation, Hoist Procedural Tower practice, and scenario-based night mission training.

  • SART07

    SART/TAC P1AR Annual Recurrent Hoist Rescue Training

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic SAR Hoist Training Re-Currency Training Course meets and exceeds the training standards of the Aviation Authority. This syllabus is designed to provide participants with the most current information on helicopter safety, mission preparation, emergency response, hazard mitigation, and technical rescue procedures for personnel performing helicopter rescue/special operations. This 9 modules course includes classroom, equipment practice, Virtual Hoist Simulation, Hoist Procedural Tower practice, and scenario-based mission training.

Tactical Training

  • SART08

    SART/TAC P1AR Aerial Use of Force/Marksmanship

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s SART/TAC Virtual Simulator is used to provide Aerial Use of Force, Marksmanship, and Aerial Gunnery training syllabi. Training includes the ability to use most light weapons and/or machine guns (M240/M134/GAU21). The operational tactics and Use of Force Doctrine are modelled after the aerial gunnery training course curriculum still in use today by the USCG and developed by P1AR’s members. This course of instruction consists of 38 different training modules employing light weapons to 50 Cal to include, aircraft safety, weapons course of fire, personal protection equipment, NABK ballistic marksmanship practice, shooting positions, sighting/aiming, warning fire, disabling fire, use of force continuum, night firing using NVG, suppression fire, judgmental shoot – don’t shoot training, and endgame tactics and procedures. All thirty-eight Aerial Gunnery training modules are detailed with job tasks, training objectives, enabling objectives, and evaluations.

  • TR09

    P1AR Basic Short Haul / Special Insertion and Extraction (SPIE)

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic Short Haul/SPIE Training Course covers operational instruction for Human External Cargo SAR/Tactical missions and HEC Short Haul/SPIE planning, flight strategies, emergency procedures, use of proper short haul equipment, cargo hooks, Portable Safety Devices (PSD), and incident risk management.

  • TR13

    P1AR Basic Utility External Load/Aerial Firefighting Mission

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Basic Utility External Load / Aerial Firefighting Training Course covers operational instruction for external load utility missions and fire suppression planning, flight strategies, fire suppression tactics, command and control, and incident management.

  • TR14

    P1AR Basic Tactical Mission Fast-Rope

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Fast-Rope Training Course is designed to provide participants with Tactical Fast-Roper, Fast-Rope master, and pilot techniques to perform Tactical Fast-Rope insertion missions. Each section of this syllabus is designed to help the student achieve proficiency, standardization, and safety in the performance of Tactical or rescue operations via Fast-Roping methods. This training program syllabus will be used to qualify the customer’s Fast-Rope team to deploy to remote access and/or urban, maritime vessel environments. This course may be conducted in conjunction with our Rappelling/Abseiling course as well.

  • TR15

    P1AR Tactical Team Integration to Airborne Assets Course

    Priority 1 Air Rescues Tactical Team Integration to Airborne Assets Course will provide instruction on the mission planning and application for employing Tactical Teams in rural/urban environments to hostage rescues, active shooters, barricaded subjects, Emotionally Disturbed Persons (EDP), and other high-risk operations requiring rapid transport and insertion of tactical teams. The content of this course is primarily scenario-based training and will provide participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to perform complex missions including tactical strategies, high-rise operations, formation flights, communications, command and control, and various deployment methods to include Tyler Benches, skid-light, and hover deployment operations.

  • TR16

    P1AR Aerial Use of Force/Marksmanship

    Priority 1 Air Rescue’s Aerial Use of Force, Marksmanship, and Aerial Gunnery training includes the ability to use most light weapons and/or machine guns (M240/M134/GAU21). The operational tactics and Use of Force Doctrine are modelled after the aerial gunnery training course curriculum still in use today by the USCG and developed by P1AR’s members. This course of instruction consists of 38 different training modules employing light weapons to 50 Cal to include, aircraft safety, weapons course of fire, personal protection equipment, ballistic marksmanship practice, warning fire, disabling fire, use of force continuum, suppression fire, judgmental shoot – don’t shoot training, and endgame tactics and procedures. All thirty-eight Aerial Gunnery training modules are detailed with job tasks, training objectives, enabling objectives, and evaluations.