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March C-17s transport Navy dolphins

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Megan Crusher
  • 452nd Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  The C-17 Globemaster III's cargo doors are open to accommodate the eight passengers, who average 450 pounds each. A K-loader is on standby to help them into the plane. The first truck arrives carrying the first two, who are constantly being doused with water; but the dolphins don't mind the attention or their wet surroundings.

The back of the truck carries two large, blue, rectangular animal transport containers, that discretely house two Navy dolphins. Trainers stand at the head of each container repeatedly pouring water over each of the two mammals to keep their skin hydrated.

Loadmasters work with naval fleet personnel and civilians to load the first two dolphins, part of the Navy's Marine Mammal Program, onto the jet as quickly and smoothly as possible; first off the truck and onto the K-loader, which is then raised a few feet to be level with the cargo doors so the containers can be gently pushed onto the jet and into place. This procedure is repeated for six more dolphins from Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado, Calif. and their equipment, March 26.

"We had great communication with the loadmasters starting two weeks ago and through this process it went very smooth, very clean and very professional," said Mark Patefield, biological science technician, Navy Marine Mammal Program.

"It was really cool to load up the dolphins and watch how everyone was working together to get all eight onto the airplane and tied in safely," said Tech. Sgt. Andrew Lucas, loadmaster, 729th AS.

With the dolphins, their handlers and equipment uploaded and secured, the crew took to the skies for the six hour flight to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

Dolphin Mission

Dolphins are essential assets in the Navy's MMP. They have the ability to make repeated deep sea dives without suffering from decompression sickness, a condition that can plague their human counterparts.

They are also a critical mine countermeasures tool; by using their biological sonar, known as echolocation, they are able to locate and mark underwater mines.

"We will ask them to search a particular area using their echolocation to determine if there is an object that could be a mine in the water column and they'll come back to the top and let us know through a series of distinct behaviors we've taught them," said Lt. Tommy Brown, officer in charge, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 1, Marine Mammal Systems.

There are two goals for this particular trip, first the dolphins will assist the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command by searching underwater for WWII aircraft wreckage. The JPAC will take sonar photographs to determine what the dolphins locate and if it's salvageable.

The second goal is to maintain their flyaway capabilities. The team needs to be ready to deploy within 72 hours and due to the amount of personnel and equipment necessary to sustain the dolphins, exercising the flyaway mission is critical.

In addition, the dolphins will benefit from being able to perform outside of their local mission parameters. Unknown, foreign waters make this a perfect practice scenario for the dolphins to practice their real world mission.

"It's nice to get them to an unfamiliar part of the ocean that's much rockier," said Brown. There's a lot more obstacles on the bottom (in Hawaii), we give them a much more difficult picture and make sure they're still proficient," he added.

Dolphins in-flight

The only time the dolphins were left unattended was during initial take-off and landing. Each dolphin had its own handler whose sole job was to monitor his or her charge and make the dolphin as comfortable as possible by keeping it hydrated and safe.

"My job is to watch over all the animals and everything they do every day, their health, their medications, hydration and well-being," said Gunnersmate 3rd Class Manual Gonzalez, senior mammal handler, MMP.

In addition to mammal handlers, there were two veterinarians and a vet technician on board to ensure the animals remained healthy during the flight and while training in Hawaii.

Along with the personnel aboard to support the dolphins, there was a multitude of equipment in flight, including extra water, continuously operating water filters, five freezers full of fish (a staple in the dolphin's diet), a portable food preparation unit and a portable veterinary lab, said Patefield.

An advanced team, who arrived in Hawaii a week earlier to prepare for the dolphins' arrival, was waiting at the airfield to receive the dolphins as soon as they landed.

"Typically, when we deploy, we have an advanced team ready to receive us when we arrive because we have to get the dolphins into water as soon as possible," said Brown.

Flight crew adjustments

Aircrew personnel had to adjust their standard operations to accommodate the unique passengers. To keep the dolphins comfortable, aircrew members had to maintain a cooler temperature in the cargo bay, keep a specific cabin pressure and flight altitude, as well as fine tune take-off and landing procedures to ensure for a smooth flight.

"The temperature had to be maintained at 50-60 degrees (Fahrenheit), which is a heck of a lot colder than what we usually have in the back end with passengers," said Lt. Col. Craig Andreas, pilot, 729th AS.

The aircraft pressurization in the cabin had to be kept below 6,000 feet, which meant the aircraft could not fly above 30,000 feet for the entire flight,  said Lt. Col. Paul Thompson, pilot, 729th AS. The normal cruising altitude with that much cargo would be approximately 32,000 feet then they would climb higher as fuel was burned off, Thompson said. The lower altitude ensures the mammal's welfare because dolphins are adapted to increased pressures associated with deep diving, not reduced pressures at high altitudes.

They then began an early descent and confirmed they had use of the full runway in case they needed it, Thompson added.

"We adjusted our pressurization controller to minimum rate and we started down early, maintaining a nice, gradual descent to minimize any rapid pressure changes on the mammals," said Maj. J. D. Sullivan, pilot, 729th AS.

Marine Mammal Program personnel were impressed with the smooth, gentle landing the pilots managed and many commented on how impressive it was when none of the water from the dolphin's containers spilled out as the wheel's touched down and the Globemaster came to a full stop.

Once the aircraft was parked, everyone jumped into action to untie and offload the dolphins and their equipment as quickly as possible.

"We're really excited to be able to do this. The more aircrews we can get familiar with the kind of load that we have is a good thing, should we need to fly away somewhere relatively quickly," said Brown.

The off-load went as seamlessly as the upload and everyone involved was pleased with the success of the mission, Sullivan said.

"I thought it was fascinating to carry live dolphins in their little containers and that they can make it in-flight with their handlers, vets and everyone taking care of them", said Lt. Col. Wayne Christenson, pilot, 729th AS.

With the dolphins safely off loaded and on their way to a new training location, the only evidence of their presence was the scent of sea mammals in the air. The teamwork and dedication exercised by all involved will not soon be forgotten by the participants.

"The move went flawlessly," said Christensen. "The team was happy and it seemed the dolphins were too. I think Katrina (one of the dolphins) smiled at me."