JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Airmen and contracted civilians of the 732nd Air Mobility Squadron forecast the capability of every aircraft transiting JBER to move cargo, passengers and mail within a 72-hour schedule.
“I use multiple resources to create that forecast … to include Red Flag, base operations, working with contractors, the Army and other sister services,” said Shawn Lock, 732nd AMS capability forecasting lead and load-planning supervisor. “But this schedule is only accurate three to four days out; anything beyond that is wishing.”
Capability forecasting provides each terminal work center with daily and monthly airlift capability forecasts to facilitate equipment scheduling and workload planning.
This is one aspect of the large job the AMS does despite being a small tenant unit. Their primary mission is to provide service to transiting aircraft, including command and control, maintenance, fleet service, and cargo and passenger handling.
“We’ve worked with every plane imaginable; Russian, Japanese, British, [even] Air Force One,” Lock said. “It’s not unusual for us to have flights coming from Iceland, Europe and the eastern hemisphere over the North Pole.”
Most aircraft come from Travis Air Force Base, California, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to Yokota and Kadena air bases, Japan, and Osan Air Base, South Korea.
But schedules are not set in stone; the ‘cape’ forecast is constantly changing because of factors like weather and mishaps.
“Of course weather is the biggest variable that can stop and change everyone’s plans in a matter of minutes,” Lock said. “It could say zero percent chance of snow in the forecast, but we [could] wake up to 18 inches of snow.”
Aircraft maintenance is another uncontrollable variable to work around. For example, if a scheduled plane has already been loaded with cargo, but needs maintenance, the Air Terminal Operation Center would coordinate to put the cargo on another ready-to-go aircraft that needs to be squeezed into the schedule.
“During the summer, just more stuff goes out, because there [are] only two seasons in Alaska; winter and construction,” Lock said. “Most of our cargo is construction equipment or aircraft parts.”
Because Alaska is unique in location as it is in mission, this AMC is the only one of its kind to also support far-flung radar sites. The cape forecast also plans the delivery of fresh food and other cargo to each military radar site in Alaska.
“We are always on the lookout for weather issues, and sometimes these flights can be delayed for weeks because of weather,” Lock said. “Historically, the longest we were unable to get to a site was nine weeks.”
Each site is equipped with water, dried food and other goods, so teams can last up to 45 days without fresh food delivery, because aircraft are often delayed – mostly by snow and fog.
The primary aircraft used is the DC-6/C-118 Liftmaster, a low-altitude piston-powered transport airliner, but when the weather cannot permit its access, other planes are chartered in to help.
“[The DC-6] can’t go above 15 to 17 thousand feet, so for some of the sites, they have to fly between the mountain ranges,” Lock said. “They can fly around a mountain and right into a blizzard without any notice. When a DC-6 comes in – the big plane it is – it might need a half a mile of visibility with a 12,000-foot ceiling.”
If the scheduled flight to any of the radar sites has been delayed for a week, the AMC sets up primary and alternative flights.
“The carriers work well with us on this and file flight plans for both routes; the weather [determines] which one goes,” Lock said.
The AMS Command and Control Flight provides support through cape forecasting in everything from radar site delivery to daily cargo runs, and local to international transit. Whenever an aircraft stops for immediate maintenance or can’t land due to quiet hours, the schedule is adjusted and the mission continues.