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From: dpm@cs.purdue.edu (David Moffett)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: MAC briefing
Summary: Federal Express had substantial lost capacity
Message-ID: <1991May29.010833.6112@amd.com>
Date: 24 May 91 14:52:05 GMT
References: <1991May22.035007.28021@amd.com> <1991May23.055241.14596@amd.com> <1991May24.030347.9046@amd.com>
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From: dpm@cs.purdue.edu (David Moffett)


(No doubt CDR will be upset this deals with the logistics of war, and
not killing directly... :-) )

	[The technology of logistics is an entirely appropriate topic.
	 --CDR]

dthompso@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (David G Thompson) writes:
>If think that General Cole indicated that approximately 20-60
>civilian aircraft (mostly, if not all 747s) were active during
>the CRAF mobilization for Desert Shield/Storm.  [...]

I toured Federal Express in Indianapolis in Decemeber.  Indy is
their 'heavy' freight sorting hub.  At that time they had lost
24 747s to the stage 1 call up and their operation was seriously
in trouble for the lost capacity.  They expected to lose their
remaining 747s if the civilian reserve fleet got called up to
stage 2.  (BTW: These were all FedEx 747s.  Flying Tigers, a
division of FedEx now, didn't participate in the civilian reserve.)
They were also worried in stage 2 about the potential loss of
DC-10s.

>Regarding pilots, [...]

While we were there we asked about pilots.  The FedEx planes were 
all handed over to the military pilotless.  HOWEVER, at the same time
the planes left so did over half of the 747 crews, since most were 
in the AF reserve.  It was not at all uncommon for FedEx crews (now
in military clothing) to be flying their old aircraft since there was
no training time required for that particular configuration of 747.

We also asked, given the mobilizations to that point (second week of
December) if Federal Express would withdraw from the the Civilian 
Reserve when the activation was over.  They said no, for three reasons:
First they would have no pilots to fly the aircraft, even if they
had them.  Second, they felt as a corporation that it was the 'right'
thing to do.  And third, it is still a reasonable way to help finance the
purchase of $100m aircraft. 

They also noted that the 747 frieghters that United Parcel has were
also called up out of Louisville (about a dozen or so if I remember
correctly).

If someone could write a coherent, detailed, couple of pages on the details
of the civilian reserve agreement and send them to me, I'd be glad to 
summarize and send them off to CDR...  I'd also like to hear about how
palleting and pallet handlers worked for this adventure, since FedEx sent
empty aircraft as far as our tour guide knew.  She knew none of their
pallet movers and lifters left.

David Moffett
dpm@cs.purdue.edu