Oversized Freighter Carries Relief Supplies To Hurricane-Ravaged Gulf Coast

It must have been a strange sight above the battered Gulf Coast... a huge flying guppy making its way to Mobile, AL. But then again, given the tremendous amount of air traffic over the disaster area, perhaps it didn't warrant a second glance.

In any case, the arrival of the Airbus Beluga cargo jetliner in Alabama marked another phase of EADS' assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

This outsized freighter brought approximately 23 tons of blankets, cots, tents and other material from the U.K. and France to Mobile, Alabama’s Brookley Airfield – which is the future site of EADS North America’s advanced military aerial tanker production facility.

The relief supplies were unloaded and trucked to Gulfport, Mississippi for use by local relief agencies. The Beluga is one of the world’s largest freight aircraft, and it will be stationed temporarily in the Gulf Coast area to carry out other Hurricane Katrina transport missions.

Featuring the most voluminous cargo hold of any civil or military aircraft flying today, the Airbus Beluga offers a unique way to transport oversized air cargo.

The Beluga (also known as the A300-600ST Super Transporter) was developed to carry complete sections of Airbus aircraft from different production sites around Europe to the final assembly lines in Toulouse or Hamburg. Its main-deck cargo volume is greater than the C5 Galaxy, the An-124 or the C-17 airlifters.

The five-aircraft fleet of Belugas is operated by Airbus Transport International (ATI).

FMI: www.eadsnorthamerica.com