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Military, civilian aviators join forces to improve airspace safety

Features

  • Up close and personal with a hurricane

    I had to ask, "Is it always this bumpy?" The response from Senior Airman Danielle Ellis, loadmaster aboard this C-130-J Hurricane Hunter spoke volumes about what the crew regularly faces. "This is very mild compared to some of the storms we've flown into," she said. "Oh," I replied, while coveting a

  • Bird chasers help keep March skies clear of unwanted birds

    Birds and aircraft don't mix. Nearly 77,000 mid-air collisions between birds and aircraft since 1985 cost the Air Force $755,721,425, according to bird strike statistics kept by Air Force Safety Center's Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard Team at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. A strike by a

  • Tinker reservist is 'home' at last

    "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..." Airman 1st Class Nimsi Garza had spoken the words hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Day after day in different elementary school classrooms across south Texas she stood at attention, hand over heart, and declared her loyalty to

  • Nebraska medics use battlefield experiences in field training

    Reservists in the 710th Medical Squadron, one of the 442nd Fighter Wing's two geographically separated units at Offutt AFB, Neb., took to the field during their April unit training assembly to hone their deployed-operations skills. The field-training exercise at Offutt's base lake has been something

  • Wounded warriors find comfort at Andrews AFB

    Dedicated nurses, doctors and medical technicians; a premier medical facility; caring civilian volunteers; and a clean bed are the comforts wounded soldiers have to look forward to when they arrive here to the 79th Aeromedical Staging Flight. Patients like U.S. Army Pfc. Kenneth Adkins, Bravo Troop,

  • Critical testing ensures space systems work properly

     New systems in Air Force Space Command are expensive, complex and sometimes difficult to fix. Ensuring they work correctly and meet the needs of the user are the Regular Air Force's 17th Test Squadron and its fully integrated counterpart, Air Force Reserve Command's 14th Test Squadron. Together,

  • Course teaches Airmen how to be chiefs

    It takes years of training to become a chief master sergeant, the ultimate achievement for an enlisted Airman. In addition to this preparation, Air Force Reserve Command conducts a Chief's Orientation Course at the AFRC Professional Development Center to help people succeed and to make the process

  • Operation Arctic Care brings medical support to Kodiak Island

    Despite unfavorable weather, Operation Arctic Care 2008 kicked off March 3 when half of a medical team left Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, for remote villages of Kodiak Island. "Weather conditions prevented our planned air transportation from reaching Kodiak," said Lt. Col. Jerry Arends,

  • Birds of a Feather: Flying the J-model in Formation

    If flying the most technologically advanced C-130 in the world sounds complicated, consider flying four or five of them 500 feet apart. Formation flying looks easy from the ground, but it is much more complicated. Imagine yourself driving your car down the highway staying consistently within five

  • Nurse gives breath of life to patients on board Mercy Ships

    Lt. Col. Margaret Schmidt, a flight nurse with the 459th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, uses her military skills, nurse anesthetist expertise, as well as her goodwill, to give children and adults in far away places a chance to breathe, literally. As a nurse anesthetist for 27 years, providing an