That’s a Lot of Flying Time

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan—Aircrews assigned to the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing here flew 133,415 sorties between the unit’s standup on Jan. 26, 2009, and the end of May, according to officials here. Those sorties resulted in 877,007 hours in the air over that span. To match that operational tempo, an aircraft would need to take off once every 15 minutes for four consecutive years or fly nonstop for 100 years, 41 days, and 23 hours, wing spokesman Capt. Brian Maguire told the Daily Report on July 13. During that same period ending in May, the base’s 451st Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron passenger terminal processed 884,925 passengers, and the aerial port moved 690,834 short tons of cargo in support of operations in Afghanistan. Using C-130s and, at one time, C-27Js, the wing also dropped 24,992 short tons of cargo to ground forces. The final rotation of C-27Js left Afghanistan in May 2012, and the Air Force is now divesting the mini airlifters as it looks to shave costs from its tightening budget.