Patriot Wing crews support earthquake relief

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Rusty Barfield and Tech. Sgt. Andrew Biscoe
  • 439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) -- --  U.S. Pacific Command Airmen loaded three C-5 Galaxies with helicopters, support equipment and Soldiers bound to help earthquake victims in Pakistan Oct. 16. 

The Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters are the first command assets to deploy to earthquake-shattered Pakistan. A C-5 can carry two CH-47 helicopters and is the only aircraft in the Air Force capable of doing so. 

Deploying were 60 soldiers and their helicopters from Company B, 214th Aviation Regiment of the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii. 

After a short flight here from Wheeler, Army maintainers prepared the helicopters for transport. It took about six hours to prepare a Chinook for loading onto the C-5. The Soldiers had to remove the front and rear rotors, as well as the entire top sections, before two helicopters will fit inside the transport. 

“It takes a lot of work (to break the helicopters down),” said Army Staff Sgt. Michael Owens, CH-47 technical inspector. 

The C-5 crewmembers said the mission was on a fast track. “Rush. It’s a high priority mission,” said Senior Airman Mike Kaminski, from the 439th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Westover, and the C-5’s crew chief. “We don’t want to delay. We want to get out of here on time — get in here, get our stuff loaded and get out as soon as possible so we can help out the people in need.” 

A third C-5 aircrew left Westover Oct. 18 to bring more help to earthquake-ravaged Pakistan. The C-5 picked up two Army CH-47 helicopters at Fort Sill, Okla. The crew then flew to Rota Air Base, Spain with help from aerial refueling along the way over the Atlantic Ocean. 

The C-5, the largest aircraft in the Air Force, is also the only aircraft that can airlift two Chinooks. Each chopper weighs between 20,000 and 30,000 pounds. While their total weight is light enough for the C-5 to carry, the Chinooks’ height is 13 feet – just five inches shy of the C-5’s cargo deck height. 

For at least one of the crew members, this relief mission was a change of pace from the long overseas missions flown by the C-5 aircrews. 

“This is something I wanted to do,” said Senior Airman Stephen E. Pinkerton, who flew his first relief mission. “I chose to get on this mission versus just a regular channel mission. It’s just something different.” 

Westover’s 439th Airlift Wing flew the second C-5 mission supporting the earthquake relief Oct. 15. That flight went to Robert Gray Army Airfield in Texas and headed to Rota. 

The first mission left Oct. 14 for Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, where the C-5 picked up two CH-47s, and flew them to Rota. The Oct. 18 flight was the 13th humanitarian mission flown by Westover crews since late August. Aircrews flew 10 missions in late August and September. Nine of those were for the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, while one was for the victims of Hurricane Rita. The C-5s hauled more than 400 tons of cargo. 

One historic mission Sept. 2 saw a C-5 airlift 200 evacuees from Louis B. Armstrong Airport in New Orleans, La., to Fort Smith, Ark. This was the first time a C-5 had airlifted people in its cargo bay since the Vietnam War in 1975.