Altus officials temporarily relocate aircrew training

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Clinton Atkins
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFNS) --  Altus Air Force Base officials temporarily ordered three KC-135 Stratotankers and three C-17 Globemaster IIIs along with 67 aircrew and maintenance members to Lackland AFB, Texas, Feb. 4 to resume limited aircrew training operations.
 
Aircrew training at Altus AFB came to a halt when a severe ice storm swept through the base Jan. 28, knocking out power to the base.

"This ice storm has had a major impact on our training operation," said Col. Ty Thomas, the 97th Air Mobility Wing commander. "Our first challenge was to get power back to our housing areas and ensure our families were stable, then we had to get started on a return to training."

The aircraft and Airmen returned to the Altus AFB Feb. 8 after just a few days of training at Lackland AFB.

There were four aircrews for each airframe, which permitted four sorties on each of the three flying days at Kelly Field, next to Lackland AFB. Flying a total of 24 sorties allowed the wing to make up almost a day's lost training.

"We sent our students who are the closest to finishing their training so they can get back to their units," said Lt. Col. Shawn Teagan, the 97th Operations Group deputy commander.

Losing a week of flying at Altus AFB, one of the Air Force's premiere aircrew training locations, will have a ripple effect through the Air Force, Colonel Teagan said.

"The impact to the mobility forces is huge," he said. "Every day we don't fly negatively impacts the C-17 and KC-135 crew force and even our allies, who have sent students here for training.

"It will take us months to regain the training days we lost," Colonel Teagan said. "We will increase flying ops to six days a week and work closely with maintenance to surge our schedule to make up lost training as soon as possible."

The Altus AFB training mission may be hindered at present; however, the long-term future is bright.

"The Airmen of the Mighty 97th have truly risen to the challenge this past week to recover from the storm," Colonel Thomas said. "And we'll do the same to overcome the training backlog. It's why we're all here."