Air Force engineers get regional airport up, running

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ELLINGTON FIELD, Texas (AFPN) --  Two Airmen with the 147th Civil Engineer Flight here provided critical support to the Southeast Texas Regional Airport by restoring power to the facility after it was disabled by Hurricane Rita.

Senior Master Sgt. Michelle Milliard, the engineer flight noncommissioned officer in charge, along with Staff Sgt. Al Martinez, a power production craftsman, and Claudette Manning, a civilian contractor, conducted an airfield damage assessment at the Nederland, Texas, airport Sept. 25.

During assessment, they were approached by airport manager, Hal Ross, who told them that even if the trees and debris that littered the area were removed, the airport would still not be functional because of downed power lines and a 100-kilowatt generator that would not work.

Sergeant Martinez immediately began working on the generator, and within five minutes it was up and running.

“In five minutes, he had the generator up and running,” Sergeant Milliard said.

Continuing to help out for several hours, enduring a heat index above 100 degrees, Sergeant Martinez managed to connect various generators that Soldiers had brought to the site.

He was able to restore airfield lighting, provide power to the fuel farm and restore capability to the high frequency omni-directional range navigation system.

The Airmen also provided the airport a generator to restore power to the airport instrument landing system and air conditioning system to dry out water-damaged wiring.