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Members of the 71st Special Operations Squadron perform a CV-22 Osprey training exercise near Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 27, 2021. (Ireland Summers/U.S. Air Force)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Tribune News Service) About 20 times a year, Air Force Master Sgt. Eric Denman will take off from Kirtland Air Force Base in a CV-22 Osprey and fly south to the Magdalena Ranger District of Cibola National Forest.
As quickly as 20 minutes after takeoff, Denman and other airmen, often those training under his guidance, find what they’re looking for: Difficult flying conditions.
Landing zones in the area are at altitudes between 5,500 and 6,500 feet above sea level, which creates struggles for pilots because of the thin air. In the summer, temperatures often soar above 100 degrees, further complicating flight dynamics. Plus there’s fine dust everywhere and it quickly envelops the craft and chokes the engines, requiring the pilots to rely on instruments instead of their eyes as th