Winds turn back Elmendorf tsunami aid mission
ASIA BOUND: Airmen plan to try again.
adn.com
By TATABOLINE BRANT
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: December 31, 2004)
Foul weather in Alaska's Aleutian Islands on Thursday turned back Elmendorf Air Force Base planes and airmen bound for Asia to help deal with earthquake and tsunami devastation, officials said.
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The aircraft and crews planned to try again, though the timing remained uncertain late Thursday. Officials said they could head out again overnight or sometime today.
The crews had worked all night Wednesday after orders came down late in the afternoon for four C-130s and 43 airmen to head for the region. The base's 517th Airlift Squadron pulled everything together to do the job in 15 hours, whereas preparations for such a deployment typically take at least 24.
Two of the C-130s got off the ground Thursday, starting around 6:30 a.m. The plan was for the planes to refuel in Shemya, on the western end of the Aleutian chain, before flying on to Japan and then to Thailand.
But strong crosswinds and an icy runway in Shemya made the refueling stop there impossible, said Col. Michael Snodgrass, 3rd Wing commander at Elmendorf. The crews were called back and told to rest and prepare for another try.
The 517th intends to work under the direction of a joint command force run by the Marines out of Utaphao, Thailand, transporting everything from aid workers to water and food to communities hit hard by the earthquake and tsunamis, officials said.
"Whatever they have that needs to be moved, we'll be there to haul it," said Lt. Col. Otto Feather, squadron commander.
The 517th, also known as the Firebirds, is the largest C-130 squadron in the Air Force, and officials said more Elemendorf resources are likely to be sent.
"We expect there will be follow-up requests," Feather said.
The Air Force has assisted in humanitarian aid missions before. Their C-130 Hercules aircraft are especially equipped for such situations, because the large planes, which can carry passengers or cargo, are capable of landing in areas with little infrastructure, such as on dirt runways with limited ground support.
"They can get in and out of places that virtually nobody else can," Snodgrass said.
Many of the folks heading to Asia just got back from missions in Afghanistan, but despite that, morale Thursday morning was high as pilots, navigators, maintenance workers, intelligence personnel and other airmen prepared for what could be a months-long effort to help victims of one of the worst natural disasters the world has ever seen.
"There's a great sense of satisfaction being able to do humanitarian aid," Feather said in a cavernous hangar Thursday morning as the busy work of preparation went on around him.
At the Firebirds' hangar and headquarters on base, departing airmen with families on the scene said goodbye to their sleepy-eyed children and got last minute health briefings and vaccinations. Tired mechanics and flightline crews who had been up all night prepping the planes gave the final nod to the C-130s on the tarmac.
In a pilot briefing room, Capt. Jason Sanderson said he had been following the news accounts of the catastrophe, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives. Millions of others have been left homeless and officials fear more could die from disease.
"I don't know what to expect," Sanderson said. "It's kind of scary."
As scores of Alaskans donated to a relief fund set up Wednesday through Wells Fargo and the Red Cross and wished there was more they could do, Sanderson said he was excited but also humbled by the opportunity to undertake the 517th's mission.
"It's a chance to go over and help the people who need it," he said.
The airmen will be gone for at least 45 days, officials said.
Flight engineer Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wooley, 33, was seen off by his wife and two young daughters, 10 and 7. He, too, said he was looking forward to the weeks ahead.
"It surprised me it took them so long to get us ginned up," he said.
Wooley said he's been on aid missions before, to South and Central America as well as to Somalia, but never for a disaster of this magnitude.
"We need to help," he said. "It's part of our job."
Upstairs, Dr. Andrew Sedivy and members of the 3rd Medical Group dispensed vaccinations and malaria medication.
Sedivy said the airmen also got health briefings and would be on a steady diet of MREs (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) and bottled water in the weeks ahead.
Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant can be reached at tbrant@adn.com or 257-4321. |
