Inland AFBs Provide Hurricane Refuge
Nearly 180 aircraft worth billions of dollars have safely taken
refuge at four Air Force Materiel Command installations, moving
away from Hurricane Isabel's wrath.
The aircraft moved as part of previously-agreed-to contingency
plans between the impacted base and the evacuation point, according
to Bill Christensen, AFMC airfield management chief.
"Each base has a hurricane plan, updated annually, that tells
(base officials) what they're going to do if the situation arises
as it has recently," Christensen said. "That way, things run
smoothly when the time comes rather than having chaos and possibly
losing lives and aircraft."
Forty aircraft, including 30 Marine helicopters from Marine
Corps Air Station New River, N.C., and two presidential support
aircraft, moved to Robins Air Force Base, Ga. About 150 crewmembers
from the helicopter and support units are expected to remain until
the storm's fury has ended.
Seventy-five F-15E Strike Eagles flew in to Tinker AFB, Okla.,
from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., on Sept. 16 before Isabel made
landfall. Three KC-135 Stratotankers carrying maintainers also
landed at Tinker to take care of the aircraft. About 250 airmen
accompanied the fighters and will spend the next few days
maintaining the jets or flying training missions.
"No matter how you do the math, it is much cheaper to protect
them than to lose them in a storm," said Lt. Col. John Scorsone,
72nd Operations Support Squadron commander at Tinker.
Aircraft and their crews from the Naval Air Station Oceana in
Virginia Beach, Va.; NAS Patuxtent River, Md.; and Andrews AFB,
Md.; evacuated here. Additionally, 16 F-16 Fighting Falcons from
Air Force Reserve units made their way to Eglin AFB, Fla., along
with their support crews.
Besides the worrisome task of escaping a hurricane, many of the
airmen accompanying the aircraft just returned from an Operation
Iraqi Freedom deployment and had to leave their families again to
weather the storm.
"We just got home a month ago, and I left my wife this morning,"
said Capt. Steve Frank, a pilot evacuated to Tinker AFB. "With the
support structure (of the squadron), I am 100 percent confident
she's going to be able to get through this hurricane with no
problems."
All aircraft and crews will return to their respective duty
locations once Air Force officials deem it safe. [ANN Thanks Amy
Schiess, Sue Murphy, Chris Zdrakas and Tech Sgt. Carl Norman].