The Air Force did initially give priority to military units that were sent to secure the airport, distribute aid and keep the peace. But then it started taking flights according to a reservation system open to anyone.
Because of that, key aid was delayed in some cases while less-critical flights got in.
Nearly all the groups sending in aid insisted their load was urgent, said Air Force Capt. Justin Longmire, who has been coordinating the flight schedules and is helping prepare the airport to reopen for commercial flights on Friday.
"Could I take the list of all the flights and put it in order of most important to least important? Water? Food? Digging equipment? Doctors? I don't think so," Longmire said.
‘It was extremely frustrating’
The result: Church of Scientology ministers landed, as did AP reporters, CNN's Anderson Cooper and diapers from Canada. But a French portable hospital and planeloads of doctors with medical supplies were diverted to the Dominican Republic.
Friday, February 19, 2010
haiti flight logs detail early chaos after quake
Some vital relief aid had to wait because of the way U.S. handled flights
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
LinkWithin
I'm not sure of what you are trying to say by posting this article. I'd like to know your point of view on the subject.
ReplyDeleteYes, a planeload of medical supplies sounds much more important than a planeload of scientology ministers, unless the minister had crates of food and clothing to distribute. Kike the air force person in control of the airport said 'everyone said their plane was important' They really did try and after a while worked out the kinks. I think they should be commended for their efforts and given a break.
i have been defending the Americans and the people on the ground for their efforts, despite attacks from France and that guy in Italy. I think they were doing the best they could under the terrible circumstances. This other blog i was reading (mediaite- which is full of nasty commenters so i left) had been praising Anderson Cooper on his reporting, and he was getting a lot of attention for his reporting. I found it interesting that "Nearly all the groups sending in aid insisted their load was urgent," but yet Anderson Cooper and Scientologists were among the first in, hampering relief efforts.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not the people on the ground trying to make hay of the terrible situation, the problem is people like Cooper and Scientologists putting themselves first.