New runway opens possibilities at Balad

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Shaun Emery
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  A C-12 made history Aug. 15 when its wheels touched down here on a little-known piece of airfield. It was the first aircraft to take off and land on Balad’s newest runway.

“The completion of the runway gives us an exponential increase in the efficiency of the airfield,” said Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander. “With one runway, we were sometimes limited in our operations. With the second opening up, anything is possible.”

With more than 13,000 flights a month and more than 25 different aircraft, the main runway was the path to the sky for aircraft departing here. The constant use was beginning to take its toll.

“Our primary runway was beginning to deteriorate,” said 1st Lt. Tyson Schrecengost, a 332nd Expeditionary Airfield Operations flight operations officer. “The runway was becoming an uncertainty for our F-16 (Fighting Falcon) pilots with constant foreign object debris.”

The problem with debris caused temporary closures to allow repair work on the runway, but now the work and the flights can keep on moving.

“We close the runway parts of the day so civil engineers can do work on it,” General Gorenc said. “When we have to close it, the mission comes to a halt.”

With the second runway now open, those problems will no longer close the airfield because flights can be pushed to the second runway, Lieutenant Schrecengost said.

The task of getting the runway finished and operational was like an intricate ballet that involved members of the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, the Army Corps of Engineers, the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron and helicopter units that were using the new runway for parking, General Gorenc said. It was critical they stayed in step.

“Everything needed to come together at the same time,” the general said. “If groups got out of sync it could threaten the mission.”

The teamwork and effort that went into this project is a testament to the hard-working dedication of all the groups involved, Lieutenant Schrecengost said.

“This is a huge win for the Air Force, Army and rebuilding of Iraq,” he said.