The missions can be generated solely for the relief effort, or can be part of an existing mission in the flight schedule or even contracted through a commercial airliner. Vic Kleiser has organized emergency airlift into several world hot spots, including East Timor, Kosovo and Bosnia. Kleiser is the deputy chief of contingency operations for AMC, and is one of several people who connects the flights to a mission and aircrew. For instance, he finds out if the aircrew will stay overnight at another base, or if they need refueling support. A lot of time is spent tracking down the point of contacts for the shipment to get the rest of the details, such as country clearances or load plans, he said.
Supplies being sent in the contingency arena are usually excess government goods.
Many times aircraft flying routine schedules to Europe or Asia are used to transport the materials, or AMC can contract with commercial airliners. Contract airliners are used to augment military airlift. The Special Assignment Airlift Division blends military and commercial airlift to handle unique requirements often on a very short notice. Also, they responded within hours to carry an earthquake rescue team to Turkey on an Air Force C-5 Galaxy aircraft in August. In April, four commercial airlines were used to carry tents, blankets and food to Kosovo.