Glitch In Aceh Tsunami Relief Airlift Put Right -- By Airlifted Experts

Last Wednesday we told you about the water buffalo (in some wire stories, a less-exotic "cow"-- hey, we went with the waterboo) that got onto a runway at Aceh in the tidal wave-flattened isle of Sumatra, Indonesia. As you might expect for any incident in which a two-ton animal tangles with a good-sized jet transport, everybody loses -- the critter (maybe the confusion on species came about because of the state it was left in by the jet's turbofans?), the jet, which suffered at least a main landing gear failure, but most of all the people of the battered region.

With the only runway for miles and miles around closed by the wrecked 737, and the roads and bridges, such as they are, destroyed by the freak geological phenomenon, the victims were looking at the prospect of nothing to eat for days, except maybe a UN diplomat or two who had come flapping in to take charge, take credit, and take whatever was portable and might be fenced easily in Geneva or Manhattan.

The mainstream press mentioned that the runway later reopened, but none of the stories we saw explained how it was reopened. Trust the blogosphere to give us the answer. According to one of the posters at The Diplomad blog, who claims to be a US State Department official in one of the affected nations, it was a team of US Navy and Air Force men who came in on a chopper:

"One last thought. Who ever said Mother Nature didn't have a black sense of humor? Let me tell you a true story about an Acehenese cow. She survived the earthquake and the tsunami. On January 5, as she was crossing the runway a B-737 bringing relief supplies hit and killed her. The 737? Crumpled undercarriage and damaged wing. Nobody human hurt. Runway operations shut down until (please play Flight of the Valkyries) a superb combined USAF/USN team came choppering in with the most amazing gadgets and moved the thing off the runway, restoring full operations in just a few hours. To paraphrase the Joker, 'Where do they get such wonderful toys!'"

To answer the Joker's question... from Sikorsky.

Which of course leaves us with just one question still to answer: what did become of the cow (or water buffalo) that tried to kiss the Boeing? Since it has not been further reported, it probably wound up in the stew.

Much to the relief of the UN diplomats.

FMI: http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/2005/01/unbearable.html