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C-130 'Herks' deliver humanitarian supplies to Afghan village

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. John Jung
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  The Airmen of the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron performed a high-altitude airdrop mission, supporting Coalition and civilian Afghans in a remote village in Northern Afghanistan.

The Georgia Air National Guard crew that flew the mission, deployed from the 158th Airlift Squadron, Savannah, Ga., successfully deployed eight bundles of humanitarian aid from a C-130H Hercules, Aug 26.

The eight bundles, weighing approximately 4.1 tons, were packaged in a container delivery system, which assured the bundles and their precious cargo of food, water, clothes and blankets arrived intact.

Waiting on the ground were Coalition forces who helped distribute the humanitarian aid to the villagers.

"The CDS uses the aircraft's deck angle to assist its aft movement across the roller conveyors on its way out the cargo ramp and door," said Tech. Sgt. Ricky Córdova, loadmaster on the mission, and resident of Charlotte, N.C. "When the bundles are out of the aircraft, parachutes inflate and lower them to the ground. As each bundle clears the cargo ramp, the rigged high velocity low cost aerial delivery system parachutes deploy and quickly deliver the load to the people waiting on the ground. The CDS also has corrugated paper cushion pads, known as honeycombs on the bottom of each bundle that are designed to absorb the shock and impact when the bundles land on the ground."

"Also aiding in the safe delivery of the humanitarian supplies is an advanced aircraft computer system aboard the C-130H, operated by the navigator," said Lt. Col. Tommy Atkinson, aircraft commander and the 19-year veteran pilot. "Once the aircraft is over the drop zone, the co-pilot activates the jump signal switch on command of the navigator and a green light ignites, signaling the loadmaster to manually assist the CDS gate cut. The aircraft computer program accounts for the unique drift of different parachutes, the weight of the load, wind velocity and other variables, which ensures the airdrop gets to the intended spot."

"These airdrop missions are challenging, and we enjoy that challenge," the Merritt Island, Fla. resident continued. "What may be lost on some people is how complicated these missions really are, because we've been doing them flawlessly for so long."
Captain John Mims, navigator on the mission, said even though the members of the squadron make airdrops look easy, a tremendous amount of work goes into every single detail of the mission.

"The squadron is made up of a multitude of career fields, including intelligence personnel, loadmasters, crew chiefs, navigators and pilots from all over the United States, all of which are absolutely crucial to the airdrop missions being completed," Captain Mims said.

The 774th EAS has been dropping an average of five to eight tons of supplies and equipment per mission and will continue to do so as long as necessary. Airdrops are a safe and reliable method for shipping vital supplies into locations where there are no roads, the terrain is too mountainous, the loads are too heavy for helicopters or where the insurgent threat is too great.