we transport aid supplies destined for
humanitarian causes.’
So, how does it all work in terms of
the nitty-gritty detail of responding to
an airlift requirement and swinging all
the ‘global mobility’ into action? Canlas
continued, ‘When a user needs cargo
airlifted, they submit a request to US
Transportation Command where it is
validated and then sent to the Tanker
Airlift Control Center [TACC], located at
the Air Mobility Command headquarters
at Scott AFB, Illinois. TACC will then build
a mission and assign [it] to a C-17 wing
based on geographical location, crew
and tail availability and any other special
requirements. The current operations
office at our wing assigns the tasking to
a particular squadron to execute.
‘In general, the majority of our
mission taskings come from TACC — it
plans, schedules and directs a fleet
of more than 1,300 mobility aircraft
in support of operations around the
world. Together with TACC, mission
planners here at Charleston allocate
specific [aircraft] against those taskings.
Local training sorties and other various
mission requirements [usually up to
three-day events] are planned by local
personnel as required. All aircraft have
key operational and maintenance data
tracked in a web-based information
system. Mission planners access and use
that data to deconflict specific mission
concerns from specific maintenance
requirements. For example, a mission
planner knows that a particular C-17 is
due for periodic maintenance in 10 days
and therefore will not schedule that
aircraft on a 30-day mission.Above: The
437th Aerial
Port Squadron,
working in
concert with
the loadmaster,
swings into
action.
Left: A crew chief
marshals a C-17
off its parking
spot.UNIT REPORT // 437 th AIRLIFT WING
40 April 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
38-45 Charleston's global lifters C.indd 40 15/02/2018 12:48