JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Landing Zone Safety Officer training took center stage last week on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson as personnel from across the installation took part in a multi-day course designed to certify them in the critical task of securing and preparing improvised landing zones for aircraft in austere environments.
The LZSO course is part of a broader effort to enhance U.S. Air Force agility and rapid deploy-ment capabilities-particularly in the challenging and expansive Pacific theater.
“The Pacific theatre is vast, and not every location we may need to operate in will have the com-fort of established runways,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. James Delapine, a Pacific Air Force air traffic control specialist. “Training like this ensures our forces are equipped to land where we need to, when we need to.”
The course consisted of several days of classroom instruction, where students learned the tech-nical requirements and safety protocols necessary to assess and mark temporary landing zones. Following classroom training, participants moved into hands-on field exercises, preparing make-shift airstrips in remote areas of the base. In a unique evolution of the training, this iteration of the course did not stop at preparing zones for transport or cargo aircraft like the C-130 Hercules or C-17 Globemaster. For the first time, train-ees completed a scenario involving the preparation of a site capable of supporting fighter-class aircraft landings and even included a simulated landing of JBER’s 90th Fighter Squadron’s F-22 Raptors.
“This is about taking an airstrip from concept to execution in real-world conditions,” said Tech Sgt. Kylie Holloway, an ATC Specialist from PACAF and one of the course instructors. “We’re not just talking about landing planes-we’re giving our teams the tools to open up forward operating locations in places where infrastructure might not exist.”
The majority of students came from air traffic control backgrounds and had little to no prior experience in landing zone operations. Transitioning these professionals into capable LZSO-qualified personnel dramatically expands the Air Force’s ability to establish and operate from remote locations on short notice.
JBER’s diverse terrain and unusual weather provided a realistic backdrop for the training, reinforcing the unpredictable conditions that service members may encounter in real-world missions. The course emphasized quick decision-making, precision coordination with aircrews, and the physical demands of working in the field. As the Department of Defense increasingly emphasizes agile combat employment and distributed operations, courses like the LZSO certification at JBER serve as a key part of ensuring tactical mobility and strategic deterrence across the Indo-Pacific region.