C-17s might take polar short cut

Pilots from the Charleston Air Force Base could soon begin flying over the North Pole to reach the Afghanistan war zone. And if the order comes, one flyer says it won't be that hard to do.

Capt. Brian Moritz, a C-17 pilot, said flying over the top of the world wouldn't be much different than flying the current route into southwest Asia, over the Atlantic.

U.S. pilots train to a common standard "whether it be over a pole or over an ocean," said Moritz, chief of air crew training at the base.

Because C-17s navigate largely through satellites, he said, compass readings are done only as a backup.

Moritz has flown the polar route once, from a U.S. base near Fairbanks, Alaska, to Europe. For half the flight, he went due north until he neared the pole and his compass began to swing wildly. "Then all of a sudden you're flying south," he said.

This month, the nation's top uniformed logistics officer said the Pentagon is looking at a variety of methods to get the 30,000 additional U.S. troops into the Afghan theater.

Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb of Transportation Command told defense reporters to prepare for the surge, saying they should "open up another lane" and then "open up another bridge," according to Air Force Magazine.

A "niche" route, McNabb said, is to fly from the United States north over the pole into Russia or another Central Asian republic, or directly into Afghanistan. Such a route would allow Air Force C-17s to fly nonstop from the United States, including Charleston Air Force Base, into Afghanistan's Bagram Air Field.

It also would allow for wounded soldiers to be evacuated directly to U.S. soil without a need to stop at hospitals in Germany.

Time and money savings weren't immediately available from the Air Force, but a commercial estimate of flying from North America into southern Asia over the pole showed that as much as five hours' flying time could be trimmed. The current route from Charleston includes a leg to Germany of about 8 or 9 hours, with another 8 or 9 hours into Afghanistan.

Published estimates are that about half of all the cargo needed in Afghanistan moves by land through Pakistan. Another 30 percent goes by land from the former Soviet bloc nations of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The rest comes in by aircraft.

Cynthia Bauer, media spokeswoman for the transportation command, said McNabb's comments were targeted at exploring "anything we can do to make the supply chain more robust."

Polar flights, however, would be limited to troops, she said. "Specific need, specific time, specific mission," she said.

The chance of such flights ever happening is being explored through diplomatic channels with foreign governments, Bauer added.

Part of the way could be opened as a result of an agreement signed in June between the United States and Russia which will permit as many as 4,500 military flights through Russian airspace into Afghanistan. Three such flights have been made so far, Bauer said.

Moritz said Charleston pilots are ready to go, whatever routes are picked.

"If going over the top is quicker than going around, were going to plan to do that," he said.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551 or skropf@postandcourier.com.