Synchronizing Civil-Military Air Relief Efforts during a Catastrophic Crisis.

摘要

On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the island nation of Haiti. Thousands of lives were lost and more than one million people were displaced. The seaport was unusable and numerous roads were impassable. International response immediately merged on the only suitable airport capable of supporting air relief operations. With no radar, no tower, one runway, and limited ramp capacity, the airport was quickly overwhelmed with demand for access. The resultant influx of international and military flights quickly saturated the airspace and airport resulting in aircraft holding, diverting, and an eventual FAA ground stop for 22 hours for flights departing the United States until airspace control was delegated to the U.S. military by the Government of Haiti. The uniqueness of this crisis, a densely populated island nation with limited internal capacity and only one suitable port of entry for international aid, presented a host of challenges for air relief efforts. Rapid civilian and military airlift was critical to the initial response efforts, but the Haiti experience revealed strategic gaps in logistical operations. In the year since Haiti, no strategic blueprint has been proposed for future civil- military cooperation within the aviation community, although the requirement for such a framework had been discussed in numerous forums before the Haiti earthquake. A review of the Haiti catastrophe and lessons learned from previous crises demonstrate that early synchronization of civil-military air operations is necessary to improve air relief efforts for future catastrophic events.