by Ashton Goodell
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska Air National Guard and Air Force crews are en route to Haiti.
A week after the earthquake, rescue teams are still needed.
Three C-17 cargo jets assigned to Elemendorf Air Force Base left Tuesday for South Carolina to help in the relief effort. A fourth plane will leave Wednesday.
The teams will fly missions from Charleston, SC to Haiti to bring in food, water and medical aid.
For the next two weeks, they will also evacuate those still in need of medical care.
The airlift squadrons helped during hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike. They say when disaster strikes they're ready to help.
"We can floor load a whole bunch of passengers, basically as many as we can fit, which is a lot of passengers," said airman David Russell.
Haiti has limited landing space which is why the team is flying out of Charleston.
