Top Stories
The PM drops crews a line
By FLGOFF Eamon Hamilton

Edition 4906, April 19, 2007
 
QUICK TRIP: Prime Minister John Howard ushered off an Air Force Hercules and welcomed to Afghanistan by CO 1RTF, LTCOL Mick Ryan. Photo by CAPT Lachlan Simond
 
MORE MILESTONES have been notched up with Air Force’s combat airlift operations in the Middle East, following an eventful start to 2007.

Four years of providing airlift to ADF personnel in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) resulted in Air Force C-130s under Joint Task Force 633 air group surpass 10,000 hours of operational flying.

Task Group Commander, WGCDR Robert Williams, said the passing of this milestone was “business as usual”.

Their cargo has included more than 57,000 passengers, numerous medical evacuations, 14,700 tons of cargo, and last March, Prime Minister John Howard.

His visit to the MEAO was a whirlwind tour of ADF operations in Iraq and Afghanistan via a 37SQN C-130J.

The PM arrived in the Middle East on March 14 on board a 34SQN BBJ.

The following day, the 37SQN Hercules took the PM to Afghanistan, first stopping in to Tarin Kowt, in the southern province of Oruzgan.

There, the PM visited ADF personnel working with the Netherlands-led Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Then it was back into the Hercules for the 60-minute flight to Afghan capital of Kabul where the PM met with President Harmid Karzai.

By the end of the day, the Hercules was taking the PM back out of Afghanistan with the first news of the visit only just reaching Australia.

First port of call was for 37SQN to deliver the PM and CDF ACM Angus Houston to meet 450 ADF personnel assigned to the Overwatch Battle Group-West.

The next leg of the PM’s journey with CDF to Baghdad shot to the headlines back in Australia when smoke filled the cargo compartment of the Hercules shortly after take-off.

Demonstrating coolness under pressure – especially given their VIP passengers – the crew immediately returned to the runway at Tallil without further incident, earning praise from the PM and CDF.

“It was the sensible thing to do in the circumstances. I can’t fault their actions. The evacuation was done very quickly and efficiently,” ACM Houston said.

Hydraulic fluid leaking into an engine was later found to be the cause of the smoke. Just 30 minutes after the landing, the PM and CDF were on board a back-up Hercules for the trip to Baghdad, the final official destination on the tour. Speaking of the Hercules flight crew, Mr Howard later said “I was in very good hands.

“You can’t get any better than the RAAF. It was a really good performance and I want to thank everyone.”