'Airport in a suitcase' thwarts poor visibility

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Maranatty Martin
  • 407th Air Expeditionary Group
Airmen from Robins Air Force Base, Ga., are providing essential airfield systems here for forces fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The 5th Combat Communications Group airmen are using an air traffic and control landing system they call their "airport in a suitcase" to help aircraft land safely here in low-visibility conditions.

The system consists of a tactical air navigation system, a mobile control tower and a radar system. It provides air traffic controllers with the equipment they need to bring dozens of aircraft back to station around-the-clock, contributing to successful combat operations.

Several dozen Army and Marine Corps helicopters use the navigational aids daily, which has enabled them to transport more than 17 million pounds of supplies and cargo.

Before airmen from the 5th CCG set foot here April 6, combat operators were relying on a smaller, less efficient system, officials said. Air traffic controllers had to communicate with aircraft from an abandoned Iraqi tower until the mobile control tower arrived.

The airmen set up the airfield site quickly, in spite of 100-degree-plus temperatures, because the daily sandstorms were causing low visibility for the pilots.

"During sandstorms or dark hours we relied on the (tactical air navigation system) and radar stations to navigate our path back to home base," said Capt. Joshua Lechowick, an A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot from Pope AFB, N.C.

"The old tower was a very spartan existence with bare-base essentials for communications," said Master Sgt. Gary Thomas, air traffic control superintendent. "With the mobile control tower and the radar system, we are able to provide better air traffic service."

The team has provided a huge boost to safe flying operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom, said Maj. Craig Wilcox, 407th Expeditionary Communications Squadron commander.

"The airfield team arrived here with one job to do: ensure aircraft could safely navigate and land in and around Tallil," he said. "They have done this job. ..."