MC-12 Unit Reaches 100,000 Flight Hours

MC-12 Unit Reaches 100,000 Flight Hours: The 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, amassed its 100,000th flight hour, accomplishing the feat with its MC-12 Liberty ISR airplanes in less than three years of operations there. The Air Force introduced the MC-12s to Bagram in December 2009, with aircraft No. 623 as the first Liberty to touch Bagram soil, according to a Sept. 15 base release. It was this same airframe that reached the 100,000th flight hour for the unit on Sept. 11, states the release. “One hundred thousand hours is huge,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Alexander, 4th ERS commander. He added, “That’s about 11-and-a-half years’ worth of flying for the MC-12s in two years and nine months.” The unit’s airmen and machines have provided ISR support to coalition ground forces in Afghanistan. While it took them nearly two years to reach 50,000 flight hours, they need only one more year to reach six figures, states the release. (Bagram report by TSgt. Shawn McCowan)