Relief flight on way from Elmendorf
TSUNAMI: Airmen travel to Thailand to join aid effort.
adn.com
By ANNE AURAND
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 1, 2005)
A tsunami relief flight left Elmendorf Air Force base for Thailand early Friday morning, a day after their mission was thwarted by bad weather.
About 60 airmen from the 517th Airlift Squadron originally left Thursday for a military base in Utaphao, Thailand, in four C-130 transports. But they turned back because foul weather in Alaska's Aleutian Islands prevented the planes from landing in Shemya, at the west end of the island chain, where they needed to refuel.
Planes started leaving Elmendorf again about 3:30 a.m. Friday morning, after a required rest break, according to Tech. Sgt. Theo McNamara, a spokesman. They took a different route this time, although McNamara didn't know which one. He said they would travel through Yokota Air Base in Japan, just west of Tokyo.
The delay disappointed some of the crew, who McNamara said were anxious to start their mission. But the airmen got to spend an extra night with their families, a welcome treat before they leave for what's expected to be a 45-day deployment.
Six days after the earthquake and tsunamis that ravaged 3,000 miles of Asian and African coastline, the confirmed death toll had passed 100,000, and an estimated 5 million people were homeless. Many in remote areas face starvation.
The Elmendorf crews' mission is to transport everything from water and food to medical supplies to communities hit hard.
Elmendorf's C-130s carried the people and their supplies. When they establish a base at Utaphao, they'll be met by other deployments with C-17 and C-5 planes that will bring food, water and medical supplies.
From the main hub, the Elmendorf crews will use the C-130s to deliver supplies to whatever places are most in need, McNamara said. The sturdy cargo aircraft can land in areas with little infrastructure, such as on dirt runways with limited ground support.
Local crews started preparing for the humanitarian relief mission Wednesday. The airmen got vaccinations and malaria medications and said goodbye to their families.
The C-130s started their flying out around 6:30 a.m. Thursday. But strong crosswinds and an icy runway in Shemya made the refueling stop there impossible, and the crews were called back and told to rest and prepare for another try.
Daily News reporter Anne Aurand can be reached at aaurand@adn.com or 257-4591. The Associated Press contributed to this story |
