
I met with the DoD Roundtable to discuss the impact of Eyjafjallajokull’s eruption on Air Mobility Command operations in and around Europe with Brigadier General Randy Kee, Vice Commander of the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center. Most importantly, the discussion focused on the impact on the movement of wounded warriors from Afghanistan and Iraq to critical care medical facilities and the passenger and cargo movements in support of combat operations in both locations.
In a good news story the Air Force planning cell at the 618th TACC has done an exceptional job of re-routing air traffic around the areas in northern Europe affected by the ash cloud!

With the airspace over Germany closed, the Air Force was unable to move wounded warriors through Ramstein Air Base for care at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center located there. They placed extra aircrews and medical crews at Rota to continue moving wounded warriors almost non stop to stateside locations at Bethseda Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the DC area and Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. At the time of the Roundtable yesterday afternoon, 57 wounded warriors had been safely and expeditiously moved through the new routing.
The wounded warriors were the focus but other combat support flights have moved 7,000 short tons of cargo and 23,268 passengers since the air space to the north was closed. That is 175 full semi loads of cargo and a large football stadium full of people! The southern routing does take longer due to the earth’s geography (widest part of the globe is at the equator so southern routes are more air miles than northern routes over or near the poles). With the changes allowing continued movement the average delay for passenger and cargo flights has been only 17 hours with no stranded passengers! Quite a success story for the airlift and tanker community!
The sk

If you would like to listen to this Roundtable or read a transcript, please go to DoDLive! Thank you Lt Cragg and DoD New Media for this opportunity to hear this great news!
Note: The Land of Fire and Ice is again in the news! It is a beautiful place to visit and I highly recommend a stop over if you ever have the opportunity! By the way, the "jokull" at the end of Eyjafjallajokull means there is a glacier on top of this volcanic mountain!
Photo Credit: Capt. Annabelia Westerman, 379th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron flight nurse, signals that the flight crew is ready for medical patients to board a C-130 Hercules aircraft at a non-disclosed Southwest Asia location, Feb 20, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Michelle Larche)[RELEASED]
Photo Credit: Air Force C-17 and C-5 transports sit on the flightline at Naval Station Rota, Spain, April 17, 2010. Naval Station Rota and Moron Air Base absorbed many U.S. military flights that were diverted from northern European routes due to ash being spewed from an Iceland volcanic eruption. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Keith Meyers
Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Randy Kee. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Air Force DoDLive
I used to be on the rock! The people were great, the land was amazing. (The people off base were, uhmm, not so nice)
ReplyDelete