Aid flies in on Aussie wings
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A
C-130H Hercules aircraft carrying much needed humanitarian aid
is unloaded by ground crew at Banda Aceh airport.
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(L-R)
Flight Lieutenant Matthew Nunn and Flight Lieutenant Wayne Baylis
in the cockpit of an Australian Air Force C-130H Hercules aircraft
transiting to Banda Aceh airport with much needed aid for the
local population.
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Flight
Lieutenant Wayne Baylis from 36 Squadron, RAAF Base Richmond,
co-pilots a C-130H Hercules aircraft on a flight from Butterworth
to Banda Aceh airport to drop off much needed aid to the local
population.
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By
Flying Officer Fiona Harris - filed 28 January
2005
Barely
48 hours after the Boxing Day Tsunami, the first of two 36 Squadron
C-130Hs touched down in Medan, Indonesia, providing an air lift capability
to the international humanitarian assistance effort.
For Pilot Flight-Lieutenant Wayne Baylis, the scene was a dramatic contrast
to being at the Boxing Day cricket Test match between Australia and
Pakistan in Melbourne when he heard the news of the tsunami.
"Our C130Hs go away to this sort of humanitarian aid operation
all the time so in the back of my mind I thought somehow we are going
to be involved," he said.
"I got a call from work at 8am the next morning and was told to
drive from Melbourne back to Sydney to catch a flight the next day."
36 Squadron's primary role in Sumatra is to provide assistance to the
Indonesian military in support of the relief operation. Preliminary
tasking for the C-130H crews included transporting a medical team and
the initial food and water to tsunami ravaged Banda Aceh and then ferrying
humanitarian aid from Jakarta and Medan.
The scene that awaited Flight-Lieutenant Baylis in Jakarta took him
by surprise, with 14 or 15 countries participating in the air lift humanitarian
aid effort and trucks lined up full of aid as far as the eye could see.
In the first stages of the deployment, the C-130H crews faced many obstacles.
Before the tsunami, Banda Aceh Airport saw about five aircraft movements
a day. The airport now receives more than 300 helicopter and 180 fixed
wing movements daily.
With a detachment of 44 Wing Air Traffic Controllers augmenting the
Indonesian control, the airport began to run more efficiently. Processes
were put in place and delays were minimised.
"In the start we would turn up to the aircraft and be told that
we are taking x amount of aid and we wouldn't know what time we were
leaving, but now that the system is up and running we know pretty much
24 hours in advance what we are going to be carrying and where we are
going to be carrying it," he said.
As well as transporting aid, the C-130H crews have been responsible
for relocating refugees from Banda Aceh.
Flight-Lieutenant Baylis said when he looked into the eyes of these
refugees and saw how grateful they were, it put the ADF's efforts into
perspective.
"These people who have had everything taken away from them get
on our aircraft and are offering us food, clothing and gifts, and its
amazing to see people who have had everything taken away from them to
be so caring and giving," he said.
The crews have had a bird's eye view of the amount of damage the tsunami
has caused to the west coast surrounding Banda Aceh.
"On New Year's Day we did a run from Meulaboh, which is about 100
miles south of Banda on the western coast, up to Banda Aceh and we didn't
see one living thing,
"There were houses sitting two miles off the coast and whole towns
destroyed. It was pretty distressing and humbling as well to see that
these people have lost everything and satisfying to know that we are
carrying aid to help those people out."
36 Squadron has been involved in international disaster relief operations
in the past but as far as being able to provide assistance on a global
scene, Flight-Lieutenant Baylis said this had been the unit's most significant
operation to date.
"I have never seen anything like this before, and let's hope we
never see anything like this again."
