Can't get supplies from Fl to PR

[Sancho]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/frustrations-mount-as-supplies-for-puerto-rico-sit-idle-in-tampa/2339403

They've collected tons of supplies for Puerto Rico, but they can't get a plane to deliver them

TAMPA — More than 100 tons of food and water sat in a packed hangar this weekend waiting to be flown to Puerto Rico.

There are more warehouses just like this one across the bay area, stocked with diapers, food, generators and bottled water donated by Floridians to ease the suffering of millions. Volunteers on the devastated American territory are waiting, already coordinating with churches to ensure the so desperately needed goods go to the right people.

The only thing missing is the actual plane to deliver the supplies.

Volunteers say a mess of bureaucracy and false promises from a private charter company have left them exhausted, frustrated and desperate to get the items they've collected to the struggling island that was devastated by Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20.

Read the whole article to see how tRump's puesdo-government is nothing but a sham.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Trumps friends are trying to figure out a way to do this but profit from it, financially

so once they figure out how to make you pay for it, the planes will fly

[brer cat]

8. Sadly, that is probably truth! nt

[pangaia]

18. Disaster Capitalism....

Where are those guys, anyway?

I'll bet Naomi Klein knows where they are. LOL

[Sedona]

2. Marc Cuban & Elon Musk

Are flying in supplies on their planes. I just tweeted this story to them
Let's see what happens

[pangaia]

3. A C-5 would do it.

[Sancho]

4. The CG station at Clearwater has 7 HC 130s and a dozen helicopters

This is all political interference

[Sailor65x1]

10. Yes, that CG station has a lot of nice Jayhawk helicopters

With a range of about 800 statue miles. More than 200 miles short, plus a light cargo capacity, which is good because we won't lose much cargo then when the helicopter runs out of fuel and falls into the sea.

[dumbcat]

14. Stop being such a downer

Surely, if we hate Trump enough, and wish real hard, they could make the trip.

[Sailor65x1]

20. Don't forget the ruby slippers...

Pilots like a little extra luck aboard.

[Lee-Lee]

5. C-5s are too heavy for any airport on the island

[pangaia]

15. Well, it was a good thought, anyway...

How about a C-130 Hercules?

[Sailor65x1]

9. No it wouldn't

The C-5 can't land there

[pangaia]

16. Yeah, so I've been told.. Ah well..

What about a C-130 Hercules?

[dawnie51]

7. There was a big Navy Seabee unit in PR years ago.....

I haven't heard anything about the Seabees thus far. Are they still around? Isn 't this kind of road and infrastructure work their thing?

[Sailor65x1]

11. I'm not sure they are there amymore

Which is terrible.

[Lee-Lee]

22. Pretty much no Navy left in PR since Roosevelt Roads closed

The closing of Roosevelt Roads was a consequence of the closing of the Vieques binning range and aft Bundy, that were brought about by massive protests against the military presence on the island.

I think RR fully closed around 2006, with just some Army Reserve/Guard facilities there now.

[DemoTex]

12. Berlin Airlift-type operation needed ..

But is there a will? I'm beginning to think not.

[James48]

13. Can't happen

During the Berlin Airlift we had thousands of airplanes and crews that could join the effort.

Today, we're in dozens of countries, and our personnel are less than a third in size to what they were in the 1960s and 70s.

We just don't have the personnel or equipment ready to do a whole another operation, Our Army is already pretty busy around the world...

[pangaia]

17. "Our Army is already busy around the world.."

Boy, ain't THAT the truth..

My feeling, then, is that if it wasn't so busy around the world,...for one thing we would have more money for stuff... like saving the people in PR.

[Brother Buzz]

19. You don't need thousands when dozens will do the same thing

The C-47 (DC-3), the workhorse of the Berlin airlift, has a payload of 6,000 lbs. A C-17's payload is thirty times as large, and I know where dozens of them are parked and ready to go if they got the word. And the C-17 is well suited for landing on the smaller airstrips.

[Lee-Lee]

21. The workhorse of the Berlin Airlift was the C-54 not the C-47

Not the C-47 although they used hundreds of C-47s as well.

A C-54s cargo capacity is around 32,000 ounces, so a big difference.

And at the start of the airkiftbwe have over 500 of them and several thousand C-47's and C-46's too.

We could probably still do it, but not nearly as easily. And in either case it took several weeks before they were moving cargo in the huge levels that made the airlift famous, they didn't go from zero to everything overnight.