Alaska rejects Army offer of 8 free demilitarized cargo planes

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/article/20140922/alaska-rejects-army-offer-8-free-demilitarized-cargo-planes

Alaska rejects Army offer of 8 free demilitarized cargo planes
Sean Doogan
September 22, 2014

The state of Alaska is not going to be receiving eight demilitarized C-23 Sherpa cargo aircraft from the U.S. Army after all.

The Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs said there were too many questions surrounding Federal Aviation Administration flightworthiness requirements for the C-23. The department had planned to lease the aircraft to private companies in exchange for air time in other planes.

The C-23s used to be flown by the Alaska Army National Guard, and when the military divested itself of the aircraft in December 2013, they were sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma -- where they still sit -- to be demilitarized and mothballed. But an amendment in the 2014 defense appropriations bill by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski allowed the state to get the planes back. At the time, Murkowski said the planes could be a great help to the state in the event of a natural disaster, such as spring flooding on the Yukon River.

C-23s are small by cargo plane standards but can carry up to 30 people and thousands of pounds of equipment. The propeller planes do well at higher altitudes and can land on short gravel runways -- the kind most often found in rural Alaska.