A bill was introduced in the Senate in July to transfer 14 surplus C-27J Spartan aircraft from the Department of Defense to the U.S. Forest Service to be used as air tankers. Nothing has happened to the bill, S. 3441, except to be transferred to a committee, where only 3 percent of the bills introduced in 2009-2010 were enacted.
The Air Force no longer has any C-27Js in Afganistan, but recently they were used for the first time on a mission in the United States. Air National Guard crews from Ohio, Mississippi and Maryland flew the first-ever C-27J domestic operations missions transporting power generation equipment and Humvees to Stewart Air National Guard Base, N.Y., to help provide needed power resources to areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.
According to 1st Lt. Ken V. McGee, a public affairs officer for the Ohio Army National Guard, the 1484th Transportation Company was convoying about 70 trucks and 118 soldiers to set up a food and water distribution point in New York City as part of Ohio’s response to assist neighboring states. An advance team was airlifted by three C-27Js: one each from Maryland, Ohio and Mississippi ANG units.
“This gets the equipment there faster than on the ground,” said Lt. Col. Gary Laubach, an aircraft commander from 135th ASQ.
The C-27J crew flew their plane to Macon, Ga., Oct. 27 – safely out of the path of Hurricane Sandy. On Wednesday, they returned and were immediately put on alert for disaster relief missions.
“It feels different when you are so close to home and closer to your state,” said Laubach while talking about the difference between this mission and past disaster relief missions. “One of our pilot’s mothers is in the affected area and will be out of power for a week. This mission was great – extremely satisfying. It feels good to get stuff to the people who need it; I only wish I could be there when the generators get plugged in where the people need the electricity. This is the best mission you could get.”
Another aircraft the military wants to stop using is the C-23 Sherpa. A Florida Army Guard C-23 transported 6,500 pounds of Meals Ready to Eat from Fort Belvoir, Va., to Farmingdale, N.Y., over the weekend. The U.S. Forest Service has at least one C-23 that they use for dropping smokejumpers.