Predator crews return from Haiti
About 50 airmen from Creech Air Force Base returned home Friday after completing a humanitarian mission in which remotely piloted Predator spy planes were used to help Haiti earthquake victims.
Creech spokesman 1st Lt. Kevin Milgram said a transport plane landed late Friday at Nellis Air Force Base where the airmen were reunited with their families.
The aircraft crews and maintainers were deployed Jan. 18 to direct unarmed RQ-1 Predators at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Puerto Rico for flights over Haiti.
"Their mission was to help relief officials with intelligence to direct resources to those who needed it most," Milgram said.
High-tech video cameras on the Predators were used to pinpoint obstacles on roads that hampered the rescue effort. They also were used to assess structural integrity of buildings damaged by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Jan. 12.
