Workers help get Osan Air Base, South Korea's new interim passenger terminal into shape inside the former base exchange Tuesday. Engineers found structural problems in the base passenger terminal, forcing a hurried relocation to the former BX. (Franklin Fisher / S&S)
Workers help get Osan Air Base, South Korea's new interim passenger terminal into shape inside the former base exchange Tuesday. Engineers found structural problems in the base passenger terminal, forcing a hurried relocation to the former BX. (Franklin Fisher / S&S)
Tech. Sgt. Angelo Smith, right, and Senior Airman Jason Howard of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron at Osan Air Base install fire extinguishers Tuesday inside the former base exchange, a vacant building that has been converted to an interim base passenger terminal. (Franklin Fisher / S&S)
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Weaknesses in steel beams inside the passenger terminal here have forced the Air Force to quit the building and shift the operation to a vacant structure across base, officials said Tuesday.
The new interim passenger terminal is set up inside the former base exchange, about three-quarters of a mile from the vacated terminal at the flightline’s edge.
“We basically uprooted an entire passenger terminal and moved here in 48 hours and we’re fully operational,” said Tech. Sgt. Michael Courtney, sergeant in charge of passenger service operations with the 731st Air Mobility Squadron at Osan.
The drama began Thursday evening when Air Force engineers turned in a written report recommending the terminal not be used because it was structurally unsound.
Their findings capped a series of engineer assessments that began about two months ago when workers renovating a room inside the terminal discovered a steel beam was badly bent and twisted. Subsequent checks turned up additional misshapen beams.
On Friday, officials of the 15th Expeditionary Mobility Task Force and the 715th Air Mobility Operations Group decided to quickly seek a new location for the terminal.
The former BX will serve as the interim passenger terminal for six months, when it will relocate to a to-be-selected spot on base, said Col. Jack Gundrum, 731st Air Mobility Squadron commander.
Air Force officials will look at speeding existing plans to build a new passenger terminal, he said.
The relocation will mean a few changes for servicemembers flying in or out of the base, an entry point for thousands of troops rotating through South Korea assignments each year, officials said.
Passengers now will make a 10-minute bus ride and the Air Force will truck passengers’ baggage between the flightline and the interim terminal.
Airmen racing a 48-hour deadline worked 18 hours at a stretch to ready the interim terminal in time for the next major incoming flight: Tuesday morning’s Patriot Express, a chartered commercial jetliner that flies in twice weekly with servicemembers starting new assignments in South Korea.
Work began early Sunday morning and wrapped up around midnight Monday, Gundrum said. Some 300 airmen, both enlisted and officers, were involved in the effort.
Airmen from the 51st Engineer Squadron — including carpenters, electricians, and plumbers — descended on the building with acetylene torches, hammers and an array of other tools. They re-established electricity and water, revived the ventilation system, re-cemented spots on the flooring, laid tile and fixed leaks.
Airmen of the 51st Communications Squadron similarly were busy, laying about 2.5 miles of communications cable to accommodate phones and computers for the interim terminal, Gundrum said.
Tuesday’s flight arrived on schedule and was able to depart Osan 22 minutes ahead of schedule, officials said.
Gundrum credited cooperation and hustle among airmen from various Osan-based units for bringing the change off in time.
“We knew we had to be up by Tuesday and they were great,” he said. “They just rolled up their sleeves.”
