Stuck in the mud

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carissa Lee
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  Airmen from the 506th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron here worked with their counterparts from the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing to remove a mail cargo plane that taxied off the Kirkuk taxiway and sank almost three feet into the mud. The plane was stuck between two taxiways for almost four days until they could remove it.

The plane “simply took the corner too sharp while trying to taxi,“ said Senior Master Sgt. Robert Lewis, the squadron’s first sergeant and airfield manager. “That, coupled with the heavy rains, caused the plane to get bogged down in the mud. Had the ground been dry, the plane probably would have rolled right over it.”

So how does one remove a 727 from more than two-and-a-half feet of mud? First, remove the mud and then dig a trench, said Staff Sgt. Victor Seguinot, with the 506th EOSS transient alert. He is deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and said he has practiced for this exact scenario back home, but never on an aircraft this size.

“We practiced this on smaller-type aircraft, but it’s the same concept, and it definitely helped us in this situation,” he said.

After the trenches were dug, the Airmen stacked two sets of pallets five high. On top of each of the two stacks of pallets they placed a giant airbag. Once filled, each bag was capable of lifting 12 tons, said Staff Sgt. Nathan Rodriguez, from the 379th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

“Once the bags were filled, the wing of the aircraft lifted almost six feet,” he said.

That enabled the Airmen to level out the plane and remove it using a tug and a forklift.

All told, the Airmen spent more than 40 hours removing the aircraft, Sergeant Lewis said.

“Despite the location, no major aircraft patterns were disrupted, and the mail will start flowing into Kirkuk once again, from this very same aircraft. Our guys did a great job, especially considering the fact this type of incident doesn’t happen every day.”