Flying high with Hercs.

• Author: Ajango, Deb
• Position: Southern Air Transport Inc. uses Hercules aircraft in operations

Using huge Hercules aircraft, Southern Air Transport has heavy-hauling capacity for Alaska's remote environmental sites.

Companies handling environmental work in remote parts of Alaska know how critical - and difficult - it is to get the job done. First, you must haul in the right material and equipment, from forklifts to entire construction camps. Then, after completion of the environmental job, everything that was shipped in must be shipped out, including any hazardous materials cleaned up.

With tight project schedules and budgets, accomplishing these tasks is a challenge. But calling Southern Air Transport, based in Anchorage, can take a load off your mind - and can relieve the heavy-lifting job that lies ahead of you.

Southern Air Transport is the only company in Alaska offering three Lockheed Hercules aircraft (or Hercs, as they're commonly called). With a 9-foot-tall cargo area that is much larger than a conventional plane, a Herc can accommodate specialized freight such as generators, satellites, livestock, hazardous material or even an entire airplane.

"Our job is to haul outsized cargo around the world," says Garry White, project manager for Southern Air Transport's Alaska office. "Environmental work is one of many utilizations of our aircraft. We're involved pretty heavily all around the world in this business, as customers require loads hauled for environmental cleanup."

Southern Roots, Northern Exposure

Southern Air Transport has been known as an all-cargo company around the Lower 48 and even the world for nearly a half century. Its work has included 45 years of contracts with private and government agencies worldwide, from moving items to Japan for earthquake relief, to moving freight to Africa for aid agencies like the Red Cross and for famine relief in countries like Rwanda and Somalia.

Though the phrase "environmental work" is only a 1980s invention, it has always been part of Southern Air Transport's workload, around the world and in Alaska, where the company has worked since before pipeline construction.

Operating today in the state as an independently run operation based in Anchorage with flight crews, maintenance personnel and an average of 15 full-time employees, Southern Air bought its three Hercules aircraft from MarkAir two and a half years ago. The purchase gave the company more capacity to haul heavy cargo that environmental work entails.

"The biggest advantage of these airplanes is their outsize capability," says...