Altus relocates aircrew training temporarily

ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Altus sent three KC-135 Stratotankers and three C-17 Globemaster IIIs along with 67 aircrew and maintenance personnel at Kelly AFB, San Antonio Feb. 4 to resume limited aircrew training operations.

Aircrew training at Altus AFB came to a halt when a severe ice storm swept through the area knocking out the electricity Jan. 28. The aircraft and personnel will return Feb. 8.

"This ice storm has had a major impact on our training operation," said Col. Ty Thomas, 97th Air Mobility Wing commander. "Once we got power back to our housing areas and could make sure our families were stable, we had to get started on a return to training."

There are four aircrews for each airframe, which will permit four sorties on each of the three flying days at Kelly AFB. At 24 sorties total, this will allow the wing to make up almost a day's worth of lost training.

"We sent our students who are the closest to finishing their training so they can get back to their units," said Lt. Col. Shawn Teagan, 97th Operations Group deputy commander.

According to Colonel Teagan, losing a week of flying at Altus AFB, one of the Air Force's premiere aircrew training locations, will have a ripple effect through the Air Force.

"The impact to the mobility forces is huge," he said. "Every day we don't fly negatively impacts the C-17 and KC-135 crew force and even our allies, who have sent students here for training.

"It will take us months to regain the training days we lost," said Colonel Teagan. "We will increase flying ops to six days a week and work closely with maintenance to surge our schedule to make up lost training as soon as possible."

Altus' training mission maybe hindered at present, however, the long-term future is bright.

"The Airmen of the Mighty 97th have truly risen to the challenge in the past week to recover from the storm," said Colonel Thomas. "And we'll do the same with overcoming the training backlog. It's why we're all here."