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See video and photos of the 445th Airlift Wing crew’s trip Thursday online at www.daytondailynews.com and www.springfieldnewssun.com.
Aiding victims of a hurricane that was followed by a Nor’easter, the 445th Airlift Wing crew based at Wright-Patterson delivered three large generators and three fuel pumps to the east coast.
The humanitarian relief mission Thursday aided New Jersey and New York residents who endured strong winds and flooding during Hurricane Sandy Oct. 29 and Oct. 30. On Wednesday, the Nor’easter dropped snow and heavy rain in the areas that already had open wounds.
More than 100 people were killed in last week’s superstorm, and millions lost power.
“Our job today was to bring in some FEMA generators, fuel tanks and a couple other miscellaneous items,” said Captain Aaron Port. “It was a pretty short day for us. The mission was originally scheduled to be flown in its entirety by another crew out of California, but because of a storm that came through this morning, they had to stop in Ohio to drop the cargo off.”
Port said they have a crew designated to be able to stop what it’s doing and fly out on missions such as the one flown on Thursday.
The C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft carried eight crew members en route to Joint McGuire-Dix Air Base in New Jersey as part of the mission, Port said. It was the 445th Airlift Wing’s tenth mission.
The plane, which took off shortly before 11 a.m., is typically able to carry about 100 troops or about 150 passengers and about 90,000 pounds of cargo, Port said.
The plane allows for missions to be carried out half-way around the word in less than one day if the need is there, he said.
The crew returned from New Jersey just before 4 p.m. Thursday.
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