The air mobility enterprise postures to endure Hurricane Sandy

Published Oct. 28, 2012
By Capt. Mauri Slater
618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- As Hurricane Sandy travels North up the Eastern coast of the United States, air mobility aircraft and Airmen are working together with the 618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) to ensure the mobility mission continues despite the storm.

Similar to the precautions taken last year as Hurricane Irene approached, weather forecasters from TACC developed long-range airfield impact timelines to facilitate the safe movement of aircraft away from the storm. As Sandy moves closer, nearly 50 Air Force Guard, Reserve and active-duty aircraft from air mobility wings located up and down the East Coast are moving to Air Force bases outside the storm's path, and many others are posturing their assets to weather the storm.

These precautionary measures are taken to both mitigate damage to the nation's assets and more importantly, to ensure missions that were previously planned can continue. TACC-controlled missions are being re-routed, modified and adjusted to continue supporting the warfighter and to maintain uninterrupted support to the homeland defense mission.

"The challenge of this type of situation is balancing the threat of Hurricane Sandy with the amount of movement of all our aircraft," said Col. Carl Rahn, TACC Senior Controller. "We have to weigh the priority of each mission with the risk of the rough weather."

Sandy's movement affects multiple Air Force bases, but the greatest impact involves missions out of Dover Air Force Base, Del., Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and Joint Base Andrews, Md. Aircraft from Dover AFB have moved to safety at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., and the 621st Contingency Response Wing, a rapid-response team of U.S. Air Force air mobility specialists, are repositioning alert equipment and approximately 65 Airmen at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

As Air Mobility Command's hub for global operations, the TACC makes global reach a reality by transforming requirements into executable and effective missions through the planning, tasking and execution of global air mobility operations. TACC directs a fleet of nearly 1,200 mobility aircraft in support of strategic airlift, air refueling and aeromedical evacuation missions around the world.

For more information on this storm, updates can be found at the following links:

Dover AFB
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
Joint Base Andrews