Embassy of the United States

press releases

U.S. Chinook helicopter equipped with a special type of offloading capability called "sling loading" delivering humanitarian assistance to the earthquake- affected areas.

U.S. Chinooks “Angels Of Mercy” Surpass 5,000th Sortie

Islamabad – Today, while transporting flour to the Neelam and Alai valleys, U.S. Chinooks completed their 5,000th sortie.

"By any standard this is a remarkable achievement," said Rear Admiral Michael LeFever, Commander, U.S. Disaster Assistance Center. "This represents a Herculean effort by both our ground and flight crews."

Since airlift operations began on October 10th, U.S. helicopters have delivered over 14,000 tons of humanitarian aid and evacuated over 3,000 earthquake survivors.

Often called "Angels of Mercy," the first CH-47 Chinooks arrived from Afghanistan within 48 hours of the October 8th earthquake. During the height of disaster relief operations, the U.S. Army provided 21 CH-47 helicopters. Today, as relief efforts transition to reconstruction, this number has been reduced to 8 Chinooks.

As relief operations matured and winter approached, forward relief bases were established in Muzaffarbad and Shinkiari and the Chinooks began using external nets or "sling" loads to deliver humanitarian supplies. By using sling loads and staging from the forward bases, the helicopters were able to reduce the amount of time needed to load and off-load supplies. This allowed the helicopters to fly more missions per day than before and to double the daily amount of aid delivered. This ensured that a sufficient food supply was on hand throughout the winter for those in the earthquake-affected regions of Pakistan.

The Chinooks will continue flight operations through March, after which the helicopters will be reassigned.