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Community presents aircrew excellence award to 446th Airlift Wing

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Linda Welz
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Aircrew members from the 97th, 313th, and 728th Airlift Squadrons from the 446th Airlift Wing here were awarded the 10th annual aircrew excellence award at the Riverside Convention Center, Riverside, Calif., July 23.

The 2008 Fourth Air Force Aircrew Excellence Award winners are pilots, Lt. Col. Doug Soho, Lt. Col. Tom Jensen, Maj. Mark Brown, and loadmasters, Chief Master Sgt. Jim Masura, Senior Master Sgt. Lance Gustafson, and Master Sgt. Marshall S. Dellinger, all assigned to the 446th AW, an Air Force Reserve unit headquartered at McChord.

The award is given during the annual Raincross Trophy Dinner, part of the 4th Air Force Commander's Conference, to recognize the 4th Air Force aircrew whose dedication, airmanship and mission accomplishments, in support of our country's air, space, and cyberspace missions, have placed them above them above their peers.

"It's an honor to win the award," said Senior Master Sgt. Lance Gustafson, 446th Operations Group assistant standardization and evaluation loadmaster. "It's good to garner an award this huge. We were just doing our job and happened to be at the right place at the right time. We were just happy that we saved the ship."

On Jan. 2, 2008, the McChord aircrew began coordination for an airdrop mission to aid a fishing trawler, The Argos Georgia, and its 23-member crew from New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, and Russia. The trawler had sustained a catastrophic engine failure while its crew negotiated severe ice conditions, leaving it without propulsion and power since Dec. 24. The trawler was frozen into the ice flow off the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica and had been drifting with the ice flow for more than a week. The trawler's parent company had exhausted all its resources and couldn't reach the trawler for at least 10 days.

Knowing there were lives at stake, the McChord crew expedited approval requests to Air Mobility Command, Pacific Air Forces, the New Zealand Defense Force, the National Science Foundation and the Secretary of Defense to fly the mission.

At the same time, Airmen from the 304th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, Christchurch, New Zealand, researched what needed to be done to repair the trawler, locally purchased those parts and buoys, and palletized them for the air drop. Finally, they picked up parachutes at McMurdo Station, Antarctica for the flight.

Two days later, all was readied, the mission was approved and the pilots were confident in their calculations and plotting of where they expected the Argos Georgia to be. The weather forecast warned of two Pacific storms bearing down on the ship's position, threatening to delay the
mission for several days. Concerned for the stranded sailors, the McChord crew decided to press on.

During the three-hour flight aboard the C-17 Globemaster III, the aircrew reviewed all possible scenarios of what could happen. The decent through the extremely heavy cloud layers was slow and steady.

As the massive cargo jet broke through the clouds the Airmen spotted the trawler, exactly where they had calculated it would be. Without hesitation, the airdrop sequence began. Approximately 400 feet above the ocean's ice flow at 150 knots, they airdropped an engine, several parts and about 150 pounds of supplies to the ship's crew, hitting within 100 meters of their target.

Ecstatic and thankful for their ability to provide the life-saving equipment and supplies required to sustain the sailors until more help arrived, the aircrew turned the C-17 toward Christchurch, New Zealand for their return leg.

Although the weather continued to deteriorate, the flight and subsequent safe landing was expertly executed in absolute zero visibility.

The aircrew members distinguished themselves through airmanship excellence, superior crew resource management and outstanding dedication to their mission and to fellow global citizens.

Accepting the award at the dinner on behalf of the entire crew were Col. David Pavey, 446th Operaitons Group commander, and aircrew members Colonel Jensen, Chief Masura, and Sergeant Dellinger. (Tech. Sgt. Jake Chappelle, 446th AW Public Affairs, contributed to this story.)