Blog Editors Note: Now here is an interesting monitoring challenge. I wonder which milair monitoring enthusiast will catch this flight on their radios?
Air Force members will fly Maggie, a 25-year-old African elephant at the Alaska Zoo, on a C-17 Globemaster IIIs cargo aircraft to her new home in California Nov. 1.
Maggie will fly from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, to Travis AFB, Calif., aboard the Alaskan-based C-17.
Officials with the Alaska Zoo and the Performing Animals Welfare Society, or PAWS, the sanctuary where Maggie will call home, contacted the Air Force because no commercial options existed to safely move the elephant. The PAWS organization is reimbursing the Air Force for all costs incurred from moving Maggie.
The 10,000 pound crate designed to move Maggie arrived last week at the Alaska Zoo. The crate is 10'1" high, 8'3" wide and 18' long. The entire trip is expected to take approximately 12 hours from the time when Maggie leaves the Alaska Zoo to her arrival at PAWS.
"In addition to providing flexible airlift capability for the Department of Defense, the Air Force can provide selective assistance when commercial options aren't available. We look forward to flying Maggie to her new home in California on an Alaska based C-17's," said Lt. Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, the 11th Air Force commander.
Maggie arrived at the Alaska Zoo in 1983 when she was just a year old. The board of directors of the zoo voted to relocate Maggie to PAWS last month after determining it was in the best interest to her health and well-being to be with other elephants in a milder climate. Elephants can live up to 70 years.
