The Air Force did good. They moved several tons of bottled water, mosquito netting, and blankets from California by C-17 transport to Thailand, where US aid supplies were marshalled until negotiations were completed with the military junta in Burma. Then C-130s took the aid from Thailand to Yangon International Airport in Burma, where they were off-loaded and (hopefully) put to use.
The Bloggers Roundtable had a chance to talk to one of the C-130 pilots (transcript is here). Captain Trevor Hall, originally stationed in Yokota Air Base in Japan, was supporting a Marine Exercise "Cobra Gold" in Thailand when he got the order to stand fast at Utapao Thai Royal Navy air base and await orders. Ten days later, he was flying Admiral Tim Keating (PACOM) and Henrietta Fore (USAID) as well as supplies into the country.
Hall was the pilot in command of the C-130E Hercules transport aircraft that flew the first U.S. emergency relief supplies into Rangoon International Airport in Burma. The supplies were to assist with the recovery from the devastation that Cyclone Nargis wrought over much of Burma’s Irrawaddy River delta May 2.
“On board the plane, we took about 30,000 pounds of bottled water, mosquito nets and blankets for the first plane in,” Hall said.
He said the offload at the airport took two hours.
“The first hour was spent unloading all the supplies that we brought in, because [the Burmese military] did have to hand-offload all of the cargo,” Hall said. “They offloaded it all directly off our plane and placed it into military trucks and drove it to a different staging area on the airport.
“When we landed, I didn’t exactly know what to expect as far as what else would be on the ramp at the airport,” he added.
When the U.S. aircrew landed, they saw a Hellenic Air Force C-130 plane from Greece, two Malaysian C-130s, and some Indian planes, as well.
Following the first relief flight May 12, Hall said, the U.S. Marine Corps transported similar items yesterday, and more relief flights are continuing today. “The stuff that they were carrying today was medical supplies, plastic sheeting, hygiene kits, some food, and first-aid material,” said Hall.
The Air Force crew, consisting of six basic crew members and two maintainers, flew from the Utapao Royal Thai Navy air base, in Thailand. Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, and Henrietta Fore, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, accompanied the crew on the mission.
Hall told the bloggers on the line that the operation had went much smoother than he had anticipated. The Burmese goverment was very accomodating and gracious, but their infrastructure was badly damaged. Within two hours of his landing, he was taking his VIPs back to Thailand for more talks in support of the relief mission. Ya done good, flyboy.
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