Afghan air force receives first three Cessna planes

Molly McMillan | Wichita Eagle

Ferry pilots from Aviation Dynamix delivered the first three Cessna 182T aircraft to the Afghan Air Force on Sunday.

The pilots flew more than 50 hours on the trip to Shindand, Afghanistan, said Sarah Grosvenor, Aviation Dynamix operations manager.

Pilots will leave this week to deliver another three Cessna 182 Turbos.

The single-engine aircraft will be used for initial flight training.

Eventually, Aviation Dynamix will deliver another 26 208B Caravans to Afghanistan.

"There's just been a lot of preparation in getting things ready for the pilots to be eligible and able to go over to Afghanistan and have the clearance to go on a U.S. Air Force base," Grosvenor said. "The amount of planning and preparation that's gone into these flights has been unlike any other ferry that we've done."

Before leaving for Afghanistan, the aircraft are fitted with ferry tanks to carry extra fuel to make the 9- to 10-hour flights across the ocean, Grosvenor said.

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