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Baghdad runway reopens after repairs |
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Monday, 02 October 2006 |
 Airmen complete the last span of runway at Baghdad International Airport.
447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
SATHER AIR BASE — After a month of work, the west runway at Baghdad International Airport is open for business. That business is running the busiest, highest volume passenger terminal in Iraq.
“Repair and improvement of (Baghdad’s) west runway became necessary due to the gradual deterioration of its surface to the point that it would become dangerous in the very near future,” said Lt. Col. Scott Bowen, 447th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron commander deployed from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. “These repairs, combined with the other improvement projects, will ensure long-term use of the west side of Baghdad International Airport.”
At the airport, the Iraqi civil aviation authority runs the east runway and the east side of the airport, while the coalition controls the west side, where Sather Air Base lies. Between the two sides sits the control tower and civilian passenger terminal. While the taxiing time for aircraft was increased, the efforts of all the various units involved allowed for the large project to be completed eight days ahead of schedule.
“We utilized 136 cubic meters (178 cubic yards) of concrete,” said Capt. Shamekia Toliver, 447th ECES operations officer deployed from Scott Air Force Base, Ill. “The combined spall (pieces of the runway that break off or deteriorate) and airfield lighting repairs were done using a crew of 17 working a total of 1,600 man hours around-the-clock. We saw cut, removed and replaced a total of 41 spalls and placed 186 new airfield lights. In addition, we disconnected and removed 40,000 linear feet of airfield lighting cable and placed more than 20 aircraft grounding rods along the parking apron.”
During the runway closure, military and civilian fixed-wing traffic jointly used the east runway with significantly increased security measures in place. These security measures came in the way of additional security forces Airmen who were being redeployed ahead of schedule elsewhere in Iraq.
“It was a total team effort, and not just from the units here at Sather,” said. Maj. Laura Soule, 447th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron commander deployed from McConnell Air Force Base, Kans. “The security forces units at Kirkuk and Ali (air bases) diverted Airmen on their way home to the states to Sather to enable us to secure the runway at the civilian airport and increase our battlespace by 50 percent. The integration of forces went extremely well, and we’re very proud of them all.”
The Airmen were proud of the work they accomplished.
“It was poetry in motion with everyone working together around the clock to get the task accomplished with minimum mission impact,” said Lt. Col. D.J. Junio, 447th ECES commander also deployed from Scott AFB.
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