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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2357.PDF
Iraqi aviation Soldiers maintain tight security at Iraq's airports came units specially trained and equipped to get "austere" airfields up and running. The USAF's 447th Air Expeditionary Wing took over the now-renamed Baghdad Inter national Airport and turned it into a major transport hub to support the thousands of US troops trying to bring law and order to the Iraqi capital. Construction teams from the 1st Expeditionary Red Horse Group and the Civil Engineer Maintenance, Inspection and Repair Team repaired the runway and established an airport lighting system. A constant stream of Hercules, Boeing C-l 7 and Lockheed C-5 Galaxy aircraft were now landing at the airport, along with the first flights of aircraft chartered by non governmental organisations and aid agen cies. Royal Australian Air Force air con trollers took over the air traffic control for the airport. Other USAF units opened up airfields at Tallil in the south, Mosul and Kirkuk in the north and several remote sites in the west ern desert. These were predominately used by military aircraft. At Basra a 500-strong team of RAF personnel set up a deployed operating base to run the airport as a trans port hub for UK forces in the Middle East. Soon, between 20 and 50 fixed-wing and 50 helicopter flights a day were using the airport. Most of these were military, but they also included a large number of char ter flights carrying troops and humanitar ian aid, the latter category including a high profile visit by Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson in one of his 747s. The US and UK military moved quickly to set up a system of navigation aids at the airports under their control, installing ground radar and providing limited approach coverage. There is no countrywide radar coverage and all air traffic is control procedurally by the Regional Air Move ments Control Centre (RAMCC) at Al Udeid airbase in Qatar. The RAMCC staff issue "time slots" and transponder codes to air craft intending to land at Iraqi airfields. The RAMCC negotiated overflights procedures for entering Iraqi airspace from Kuwait, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Infrastructure collapse While the main terminal and other facilities at both Baghdad and Basra airports were largely undamaged in the war, the collapse of Iraq's power, telephone and sewage sys tems meant that the military had to bring in almost every resource they needed to run flight operations. US and UK officers who inspected the airports after the end of the war say their biggest problems stemmed more from the decade-long lack of maintenance due to UN sanctions than because of war damage. The restoration of civil aviation in Iraq is a high priority The collapse of law and order resulted in hundreds of troops having to be diverted to guard these airports to prevent them being looted. Drastic security measures, including ground surveillance radars and machine gun positions, were established around the airports. With the arrival of US tanks in the heart of Baghdad on 9th April, Iraq's govern ment melted away, as did the senior man agement personnel of Iraq Airways. What was left of Iraq's civil aviation sector disap peared overnight. The Ministry of Transport, which controlled Iraq's civil avi ation authority, was looted, as were the offices of Iraqi Airways. Early this summer the US and UK govern ments formed the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), headed by Ambassador Paul Bremer, to run the country. Bremer set m www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21-27 OCTOBER 2003 31
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