Sat, Sep 10, 2005
Oversized Freighter Carries Relief Supplies To
Hurricane-Ravaged Gulf Coast
It must have been a strange sight above the battered Gulf
Coast... a huge flying guppy making its way to Mobile, AL. But then
again, given the tremendous amount of air traffic over the disaster
area, perhaps it didn't warrant a second glance.
In any case, the arrival of the Airbus Beluga cargo jetliner in
Alabama marked another phase of EADS' assistance to victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
This outsized freighter brought approximately 23 tons of
blankets, cots, tents and other material from the U.K. and France
to Mobile, Alabama’s Brookley Airfield – which is the
future site of EADS North America’s advanced military aerial
tanker production facility.
The relief supplies were unloaded and trucked to Gulfport,
Mississippi for use by local relief agencies. The Beluga is one of
the world’s largest freight aircraft, and it will be
stationed temporarily in the Gulf Coast area to carry out other
Hurricane Katrina transport missions.
Featuring the most voluminous cargo hold of any civil or
military aircraft flying today, the Airbus Beluga offers a unique
way to transport oversized air cargo.
The Beluga (also known as the A300-600ST Super Transporter) was
developed to carry complete sections of Airbus aircraft from
different production sites around Europe to the final assembly
lines in Toulouse or Hamburg. Its main-deck cargo volume is greater
than the C5 Galaxy, the An-124 or the C-17 airlifters.
The five-aircraft fleet of Belugas is operated by Airbus
Transport International (ATI).
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