Parliamentary Committee Notes: Flight capacity
The Canadian Armed Forces worked tirelessly, alongside Allies and partners, to safely evacuate as many people as possible from Kabul.
As part of the multi-national air bridge, Canada was guaranteed only one landing time each day.
These efforts facilitated the successful air evacuation of 3,700 people from Kabul between 31 July and 26 August, 2021.
When determining how many passengers to load onto an aircraft, the aircrew took into consideration several different factors to ensure that planes could safely reach their destination.
For example, weather, fuel, cargo, and weight considerations were different for each type of aircraft and for each trip.
The extremely strict airport schedule set by the host country was also a major factor in determining flight capacity, as planes were continuously landing and departing, leaving very little time to load passengers.
Military aircraft were configured to carry the maximum number of people, and this configuration was updated to accommodate additional people whenever possible.
To maximize the number of people evacuated, the Canadian Armed Forces coordinated closely with Allied partners to fill aircraft rapidly and to optimize the number of planes that could land at Kabul's airport.
Key facts
Factors governing the number of passengers loaded during evacuation operations in Kabul:
- the number of eligible evacuees present and able to board the flight in the brief window available;
- the aircrafts' performance;
- passenger capacity in the aircraft;
- fuel and weight considerations; and
- air density and weather conditions.
- Strategic Lift Aircraft deployed:
- CC-130J Hercules;
- CC-150 Polaris; and
- CC-177 Globemaster.
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