C-17's To Tbilisi Where's Brad

[Robbie Stuart]

Excerpt from FOX News;

President Bush has directed the U.S. military to lead a humanitarian mission to Georgia where tens of thousands have been forced out of their homes following a Russian invasion last week that has been described by Georgia's president as an "ethnic cleansing."

Bush said a U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies is already on its way and U.S. aircraft and Naval forces will deliver humanitarian and medical supplies to the country in the coming days.
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Just wondering where our buddy Brad is, & if he's involved with these ops.
Robbie

[n5151ts]

...I think Bush might well be as insane as the world thinks he is. I have no problem with the "humanitarian aid" but just send it UPS....

[CAPFlyer]

Why is sending a C-17 to Tiblisi insane?

Let's see - UPS has to get landing rights, customs rights, make sure the flight conforms to their Union Contracts, they have to setup accounts for payment of the navigation fees of countries they don't already have them setup with, and a ton of other things, plus it would be a chartered flight, meaning premium price. Have you ever priced an MD-11 or 747? I'll guarantee you that the C-17 costs less to send. Meanwhile, the military already has all that in place. There have been C-17 flights over to Georgia for years, so why make a civilian company fly into what is still an unstable region and pay a premium price when you've got perfectly capable airlift assets that can do it because they've been doing it and have at least some semblance of self protection while doing so?

[airnutz]

Why is sending a C-17 to Tiblisi insane?

Let's see - UPS has to get landing rights, customs rights, make sure the flight conforms to their Union Contracts, they have to setup accounts for payment of the navigation fees of countries they don't already have them setup with, and a ton of other things, plus it would be a chartered flight, meaning premium price. Have you ever priced an MD-11 or 747? I'll guarantee you that the C-17 costs less to send. Meanwhile, the military already has all that in place. There have been C-17 flights over to Georgia for years, so why make a civilian company fly into what is still an unstable region and pay a premium price when you've got perfectly capable airlift assets that can do it because they've been doing it and have at least some semblance of self protection while doing so?

True, as well as UPS does not constitute a U.S. military presence which the C-17's will provide. Though a benign
profile...still a presence which may give the Russians a reason to reconsider breaking the truce. The Russian
armor is still rolling today despite diplomats assurances. A Russian diplomat had some interesting things
to say last night on the Charlie Rose interview which leads one to believe they are going to be 'hardheaded'
about Georgia.

Putin has been rattling his saber for quite some time now. Talk is not impressing him. Here we go...

Edit..

Last edited by airnutz on Wed Aug 13, 2008 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Forgotten Field]

I hope we are sending in ammo. Good to see the Russian Bear is back in the open. I know we are overstretched, and now is not a good time, but this kind of crap cannot be tolerated.

But at least, Dubya can get a new nickname- Neville Chamberlain...

[Nathan]

A certain song mad by R.E.M. comes to mind with all of this!! and kiss ur arss good bye!

[kenlyco]

I dont think the people in that country thinks he is insane.and who really cares what anyone else thinks.

[RyanShort1]

There's a tiny part of me that hopes that the C-17 is escorted by F-22s and that the Russians try to do something. Hoping of course that the F-22s would get a chance to show their teeth.

Ryan

[Brad]

There's a tiny part of me that hopes that the C-17 is escorted by F-22s and that the Russians try to do something. Hoping of course that the F-22s would get a chance to show their teeth.

Ryan

And there's a big part of me that hopes neither I nor anbody I know is on that C-17....

I just returned home a couple of hours ago. Can't say much about the Georgia nonsense but I don't figure it will amount to much. Tiblisi is a place we go on a fairly regular basis so it's not a big deal. My fiance is flying operations over there now. She landed at Ramstein yesterday, literally an hour after I took off for San Antonio so we missed each other...again!

I won't say much about it, but getting us to do "humanitarian" stuff isn't much cheaper than UPS and such. Several cargo lines fly in there anyhow so landing rights, customs rights (which Georgia doesn't really care about) are already set up. All of those things have to be dealt with by the USAF as well, plus the nonsense of diplomatic clearances. When dealing with that part of the world, the requirements change on a regular basis, especially when they know about the deep pockets of Uncle Sam. The commercial guys don't get the financial run around that we usually get.

As far as military presence goes, that's usually the important part. Since mid-July, I've shown military presence in Japan, Korea, China, The Philipines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam (had to pay cash to fill up a C-17), Newfoundland, Germany, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Pakistan and a few others. You'd be surprised how little notice we get sometimes!

Thanks for your concern Robbie!

[RyanShort1]

Well, to clarify, most of me doesn't want ANY C-17 crew in harm's way...

Brad - I wonder if I saw your C-17 yesterday. I work on the flight line at Stinson in the afternoons and can often see aircraft flying into Kelly in the distance.

Ryan

[CAPFlyer]

When dealing with that part of the world, the requirements change on a regular basis, especially when they know about the deep pockets of Uncle Sam. The commercial guys don't get the financial run around that we usually get.

From personal experience, I can garuntee you that they don't care how deep your pockets are. You always get the financial run around by most everyone in 2nd and 3rd World countries, especially when it comes to aviation. They seem to think that if you can own an airplane, you have to be made of money and thus will try to nickel and dime you for everything you do. You think it's bad in Eastern Europe, try Vietnam (you got a small taste of it) or the Carribean. It was a huge eye opener to me when I started working on projects there. Every time I called about something, the price changed, usually upwards and usually by a not insignificant amount. I learned quickly to lock them into contracts after the first call or two or you'd end up with them changing the deal the first time the plane pulled up at the ramp.

[n5151ts]

"" Vietnam (had to pay cash to fill up a C-17), "" I had that honor once in Korea...but with a smaller AC! we didn't have enough left to buy a bowl of noodles to share!

[muddyboots]

where was this at?

[Robbie Stuart]

Thanks for your reply Brad. Glad to know you are ok. I just got a bad feeling about this whole thing over there in Georgia. I hope all of our service people will stay safe. You take care & thanks for all you do for the USA.
Robbie

[Brad]

Front cover of the Charleston AFB paper today: UPS loading up 400 tons of food and tents, heading for Georgia.

Oh yea, for those who emailed me, my Fiance never did end up in Georgia. They did something else and came back to Ramstein. Thanks for you concern though!