Africa-Press-Ethiopia<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I flew over the city, I could see the flashes of gunfire on the outskirts,\u201d the general recalls. \u201cI was captaining the first aircraft and didn\u2019t get authorization to land. Someone needed to pressure them on the ground.\u201d Flying in, he had been unable to contact the country\u2019s air traffic control center. It had already been captured by the rebels.<\/p>\n
The capital city of this war-torn country was about to fall. On the ground were thousands of frantic civilians waiting to be rescued and flown to safety. All hopes were concentrated on one airstrip, but the armada of aircraft on their way did not know whether they would be able to land…<\/p>\n
This sounds like the airlift currently taking place at Kabul\u2019s airport in Afghanistan. But Israel Air Force Brig. Gen. (ret.) Asaf Agmon is describing his experience from just over 30 years ago, in May 1991, when he commanded the IAF\u2019s cargo squadrons and led them to Addis Ababa airport for Operation Solomon.<\/p>\n
Like many veteran military transport pilots, Agmon watched the recent television reports from Kabul and found it difficult to believe his eyes as he saw the footage of a U.S. C-17 aircraft taking off from the chaotic Hamid Karzai International Airport as dozens of desperate Afghans ran around below. Some even tried to cling to the aircraft as it took off, but fell to their deaths.<\/p>\n
Flying into the unknown, to makeshift strips in hostile territory, is a major part of what these pilots train for and do in operational circumstances. But having people climb onto the aircraft in what was supposed to be a secure and orderly airport is another matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you prepare an operation like this, you have to take into account there will be people trying to come onto the runway,\u201d Agmon says. \u201cYou need to think how you secure the perimeter. That is the basic requirement. Without it, you simply don\u2019t go ahead with the operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pilot in the cockpit of that C-17 would never have been in such a situation before,\u201d says Brig. Gen. (ret.) Amir Haskel, who captained a C-130 Hercules during Operation Solomon as Israeli airlifted thousands of Ethiopian Jews out of Addis Ababa. \u201cHaving people jumping up on the plane from the outside simply isn\u2019t something that should ever happen, and a pilot can\u2019t control it,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt isn\u2019t even one of the many scenarios we train for as military transport pilots. You always have people on the ground making sure it doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Addis Ababa had already fallen to the rebels and there was shooting on the streets, we couldn\u2019t have carried out Operation Solomon,\u201d Agmon says now. \u201cThere\u2019s no way you can be sure that as you\u2019re coming into land, someone won\u2019t fire a Strela [the Soviet, shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile] at you. And once you\u2019re on the ground, even a stray bullet can be fatal for a large aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is why preplanning, timing and, above all, securing the perimeter of the destination airstrip are crucial for a large-scale evacuation airlift to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa-Press-Ethiopia \u201cAs I flew over the city, I could see the flashes of gunfire on the outskirts,\u201d the general recalls. \u201cI was captaining the first aircraft and didn\u2019t get authorization to land. Someone needed to pressure them on the ground.\u201d Flying in, he had been unable to contact the country\u2019s air traffic control center. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[445,241,444],"class_list":["post-6757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-afghanistan","tag-africa-press-ethiopia","tag-kabul-airlift"],"yoast_head":"\n