Aeromedical personnel are evaluating the KC-10 tanker’s ability to carry patients and cargo together efficiently in test flights this month over the Pacific, announced air mobility officials. “Using the KC-10 gives us another great platform to use for evacuation of combat patients,” said Lt. Col. Michael Johnson, AE division chief in the 618th Air and Space Operation Center at Scott AFB, Ill., in a Dec. 12 release. Since the KC-10 is certified, but rarely used for aeromedevac, AE crews from Pope Field, N.C., and Scott are flying during this evaluation with medical equipment not used before on the Extender. “We’re testing new concepts of moving cargo, along with patient movements” to improve the efficiency of utilizing the KC-10’s ample cargo bay, noted Johnson. “With so many things going on and so many places where we need to be . . . another mobility platform is a great advantage,” said Capt. Brenda White, a flight nurse from Pope. A KC-10 assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, Calif., departed from JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, on Dec. 2 on the first of these three “proof-of-principal” flights, according to the release. (Hickam report by 1st Lt. Angela Martin)
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