No aircraft landing in Haiti should need fuel. GITMO, as well as several other major airports, are less than 100nm away. If anything, all the C-130s and other aircraft should be leaving every extra gallon they can in Haiti and then flying to somewhere else to refuel.

Take a look at the pictures of broken loading cranes at the small port. Visualize the difficulties in bring the port back to operation. Consider the difficuklty of bringing material ashore on small boats, Where is the aviation fuel tank farm? Helicopter maintenance will become a problem…maybe handle at NAS GITMO, What about availability of local workforce. Ecurity throughout the area must be a concern. Who is in charge of the many groups of foreign helpers? How best to reconstitute the Haaitian government? W O W !

Jim:
Added to the mess were all the very well meaning and quick-to-react aircraft operators who flew in ahead of the USAF ATC folks who parked their aircraft all over the ramp, pretty much anywhere they wanted. This became a ramp-blocking mess once the 130′s came in with the Advance Party. The Haitians at the airport were trying, but it was, I’m told, utter chaos; this initially hampered things considerably. The NOTAM is out: Don’t depart for PAP without sufficient fuel on board for return. Which, unfortunately, means that at 6#/gal of JP, that’s often 6#’s less of supplies you can carry in per gallon of fuel.

As I posted over at Lex’s place, back about Career 2.5 or so I worked in a Navy-Coast Guard program that sent people to PAP port during the regime change in the Clinton admin. Even as a fully-functioning port, it was a huge challenge. Until the salvage divers, CB’s, Port units and others can get lighters, cranes and the like in there, it’s going to be whatever the amphibs have on their flight decks and well-docks going to whatever pads and beaches they can find to off-load stuff. This is NOT like heading into a Strategic Port of Debarkation in the least.

An open question for the electronic and print media on the ground in Haiti: I see you walking through the crowds and devastation. If you can get through, that means you can carry supplies. Why aren’t you?

VR,
Andy

As usual a damn shame that no Marine Wing Support Squadrons or USAF Red Horse Civil Engineer units are being sent. I’ll never understand why we send grunts instead of units equipped and trained to manage airfields and infrastructure.

I’m a WA state firefighter, EMT, Marine SAR supervisor/instructor, qualified USCG AUX coxswain, and ex USN Seabee heavy equipment operator, and qualified communacator. I’m looking for an Organization (preferably a US military group) that can use my skills. I’m available until 5 Feb.
joconnor@whidbey.net

In defense of the poor TPFDD mechanics laboring in the 3rd subbasement at TRANSCOM somewhere, this is not a tailored OPPLAN, this is winging it to the max.

Gramps, back in 1948, Hickam based VR-8, and Guam based VR-6 were given 48 hours notice that they were headed to Germany. The squadrons had to collect thier aircraft from Travis to Iwakuni in that time and head to Points East.

From the logbook I have from the period, VR-8 was flying missions into Berlin 10 days later after changing out aircraft in the states.

All that at ~180 kts IAS and less than Angels 10 in their R5D’s I might add…

Because the navy squadron organizations were set up to deploy quickly with their own support, they quickly bested the USAF in performance once on scene.

That was then though. Today, the military must rely on commercial operators to provide the bulk of the lift in situations like this.

Sid:

To be expected. Then. NATS (Naval Air Transport System). Mostly forgotten, more’s the pity.

There are some whitehaired very old men, veterans of the Hump, the first Combat Cargo (insignia a heavily loaded jackass with wings like Pegasus flying over a mountain) who refer to the rest of the airlift in the AAF, the ATC (Air Transport Command), as the “allegic to combat” to this day. Nobody ever beat them in primitive field air logistics, likely nobody ever will. Equally unknown and unremembered.

VR aviation in the WWII Pacific, at their best, rates even honors with Combat Cargo in the CBI (china, burma, india theater).
Somebody needs to pick the brains of the line chiefs and loadmasters of both groups, while we still can.

We heard that a big part of the problem was lack of parking for aircraft, while they were being unloaded and that the issue was that they can’t unload the planes quickly enough due to space issues. If they could keep more airplanes on the ground for a longer period of time, throughput could be increased.

We proposed using DuraDeck parking mats (www.duradeckmats)(readily and economically available for rental or purchase) to expand the useable area of the airport for additional parking, pallet storage, and unloading areas but you know how it is……no-one to talk to at SouthCom or the CRG wants to listen to this unique (and obvious).