Army's Top Helicopter Pilot 'Top Heligan' Awarded to Warrant Officer Kim Young-eun
Chief Warrant Officer Choi Yeontae Selected for the Minister of National Defense Award
Warrant Officer Kim Young-eun, an Apache Guardian (AH-64E) pilot from the 902nd Aviation Battalion, was selected as this year’s Top Heligun, the best helicopter pilot, and received the Presidential Award, the Army announced on the 20th.
Warrant Officer Kim enlisted in 2005 as an aviation maintenance non-commissioned officer and was commissioned as a helicopter pilot warrant officer in 2010. He is a veteran pilot who served as a Black Hawk (UH-60) pilot. When the Apache unit was established in 2016, he applied as a pilot and has since accumulated 1,300 flight hours on the Apache, with approximately 2,300 hours of total flight experience over 13 years. He participated in the Army Aviation Shooting Competition held by the Army Aviation Command from August to September, competing against over 200 pilots and achieving the highest score.
At the award ceremony held at the Army Aviation Command in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, presided over by Aviation Commander Brigadier General Cho Jae-sik, Warrant Officer Kim mentioned his father, a former non-commissioned officer, saying, "I want to dedicate this honor to my father, who devoted 33 years to the country and the military and is currently fighting liver cancer with great difficulty."
Since 1989, the Army has selected the top marksman at the annual aviation shooting competition as the Top Heligun of the year.
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At the ceremony, Major Hwang Soon-chang and Staff Sergeants Kim Hyun-jin and Kwon Byung-deok, who competed as a team with Warrant Officer Kim, received the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Award and the Army Chief of Staff Award, respectively, as the Top Heligun team. Warrant Officer Choi Yeon-tae (500MD) from the 501st Aviation Battalion was selected as an outstanding Heligun and received the Minister of National Defense Award.
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