Photo By Sgt. Ian Leones | U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jebadiah James, the logistics and supply chief for Joint...... read more read more
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U.S. Airmen with Joint Task Force - Leeward Islands conducted an assessment of the Douglas-Charles Airport in Melville Hall, Dominica, Sept. 30 to evaluate the needs of the air traffic control tower and the capacity of the airfield to receive large quantities of humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
U.S. Air Force Col. Bruce P. Heseltine Jr., Joint Air Coordination Element director with JTF-LI, and U.S. Air Force Capt. Nick Z. Neely, the air mobility liaison with JTF-LI, met with key airport staff to determine the needs at the airport.
“We spent an hour walking around the field with the airport manager and identifying areas he felt needed work,” Heseltine said. “We came up with solutions to offer the task force or any civilian agencies to allow increased cargo to come to the airport.”
Heseltine, who has 24 years of Air Force experience setting up and operating air fields, was able to quickly identify shortfalls at the airport that could prevent large volumes of humanitarian aid from arriving.
“What we discovered was the air traffic controllers do not have the ability to communicate with the arrival-approach controllers,” Heseltine said. “We identified that they need the ability to increase the frequency of their antennas to reach beyond line of sight so they will know when aircraft are coming in at a farther distance.”
In addition, the airport does not currently have the ability to communicate with Guadeloupe or Martinique, by phone or internet, to know when potential arrivals and departures are there.
“The solution we came up with is that we need to get a communication specialist in there who can fix the ground communications,” Heseltine said. “We also need to get to air space expert to determine how the airport can increase its communication ability.”
One other challenge the team saw was the relatively small size of the air field.
“We worked with the tower and airport manager to see what sort of coordination needs to be done in order to land aircraft twice the size of what they are used to,” said Neely, who is a C-17 pilot by trade. “Something the size of a C-17 can land on a small runway, but it can take up a lot of parking space and cease other operations on the air field.”
Ultimately, these assessments help to empower Dominica to find solutions that will allow them to help their people in this time of crisis.
“We want to allow them as an independent nation to put in the request to meet the needs of their air field,” Heseltine said. “Our biggest mission is to find out their need and how we can facilitate the request for the country of Dominica.”
Using their knowledge to do this assessment and reach out to those in charge of the airport to determine their needs has been a gratifying experience for the Airmen.
“In my 24 years in the Air Force, this operation will be one of my greatest memories,” Heseltine said. “The potential ability for us to help the country of Dominica get back to their sense of normal is a deeply humbling experience and will go down as one of the best experiences of my career.”
| Date Taken: | 10.03.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.08.2017 17:01 |
| Story ID: | 250628 |
| Location: | MELVILLE HALL, DM |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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