Idaho Air Guard helps test stackable pallets

Airman, July, 2004 by Anthony Vincelli

GOWEN FIELD, Idaho -- As part of an ongoing Air Expeditionary Force Battlelab initiative, a team tested a new bilevel aircraft loading system aboard an Idaho Air National Guard C-130 Hercules here in April.

People from the battlelab, a think tank for new and innovative ideas based at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, made the 50-mile trip here to test the system as part of an ongoing process to assess its fitness for use in field operations.

The system works by taking existing pallets and attaching a frame and vertical rails to make a second tier. The unit's base is designed to hold up to 6,000 pounds while the upper pallet can hold up to 3,000 pounds.

It's very simple, yet very innovative because it can dramatically increase the efficiency of airlift missions such as the air and space expeditionary force rotations into Southwest Asia, said Master Sgt. Forrest Wood, project officer from the battlelab.

"This system will allow the Air Force [to] fill its airlifters with more equipment, which will result in having to use fewer planes to haul the same amount of cargo," he said.

The team has completed an intense round of testing at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and the system passed with flying colors. Norman Maynard, program manager for the design team from the Air Force Flight Test Center's instrumentation division at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., said if all continues to go well the system may be in the field in less than a year.

If approved for use in the field, the system will be relatively inexpensive--between $8,000 and $10,000 a piece.

2nd Lt. Anthony Vincelli

124th Wing Public Affairs