Most Sorties During Two Week Rotation Originated In Colombia

In less than two weeks, 440th Airlift Wing aircrews recently flew more than 122.2 tons of cargo and 316 passengers throughout Central and South America in support of Coronet Oak.

"While I can't speak for overall records, I can confidently say the 440th flew more hours, moved more cargo and carried more passengers in a two week period than any other unit did during fiscal year 2008," said Lt. Col. John "JT" Bowen, 95th Airlift Squadron pilot, referring to other C-130 units and two week rotational support of Coronet Oak.

Coronet Oak is the continuing operation in which Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard C-130 aircraft, aircrews and related support personnel deploy to Muniz Air National Guard Base, Puerto Rico, to provide theater airlift support for the US Southern Command. The wing sent 18 aircrew, 24 maintainers and 9 additional Airmen to support the operation.

Lt. Col. Glenn Collins, 95th AS pilot, said this Coronet Oak was different than the two he previously flew. "We were directly supporting contingency operations in South America which increased significantly due to current events," he said. "This necessitated our forward-deployment to South America, which is not our normal base of operations during Coronet Oak."

The majority of the 95th AS sorties originated in Colombia. Aircrew and maintainers also flew missions to and from Panama, Trinidad/Tobago, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

"We flew in mountainous terrain, dirt strips, austere and remote areas – often with short landing strips," said Colonel Collins. "These landing strips provided new challenges beyond the routine training environments at Pope Air Force Base, NC."

The wing flew 48 sorties in 12 days, averaging 3 sorties per day. The taskings were far from predictable.

"Each day brought an intricate ballet of trade-offs," said Colonel Collins. "The crew for each leg had to balance multiple factors … how much cargo we could carry verses the necessary fuel to accomplish the mission, the runway length needed to takeoff verses the runway available, the aircraft weight and the altitude (which could result in reduced aircraft performance), and restrictions on fuel locations and night operations.

Coronet Oak missions typically feature embassy resupply, support of US troops and the Drug Enforcement Agency, medical evacuation and alert missions. C-130 aircraft are ideal for these missions because of their capacity and flexibility to fly multiple types of human and airlift cargo long distances in all types of weather, land at small airstrips ranging from dirt to asphalt to concrete, and perform airdrops from low to high altitudes at night and under adverse conditions.

440th Airmen couldn't offer in-depth details about their missions.

"This sounds very Hollywood-ish, but we can't discuss the particulars of the most interesting missions because what made them interesting, made them classified," said Colonel Bowen, who served as the mission commander. "I can tell you that our crews were supporting operations in Colombia during the recent tensions along the Colombia-Ecuador border and Colombia-Venezuela border.."

The 95th also flew a mission to transport members of the Trinidad/Tobago military to the Dominican Republic so they could participate in the multinational exercise, Tradewinds 2008. But it's the teamwork under a "high ops" tempo that Colonel Bowen will remember.

"This was our first major deployment since the unit's realignment to Pope Air Force, NC," said Colonel Bowen, who has supported four Coronet Oak rotations.

"While both operations and maintenance were stretched, they proved their mettle by meeting a demanding operations tempo.

"Everyone just pitched in and got the job done, and done right. It's the 440th's hallmark. To experience this professionalism … in such a stark way … is what I will remember most about this Coronet Oak."

(Aero-News salutes Lt. Col. Ann Peru Knabe, 440th Airlift Wing Public Affairs)

FMI: www.af.mil