CNN iReport

This video clip shows China Air Force airdrop relief goods. The followings are English translation:

0:00 We are in Tai ping Si Airport of Chengdu, you can see

two Ilyshin-76 airplanes. One of them will take off soon. After a moment, we

will ride on second plane piloted by Captain Qiu to go to Wenchuan County for

airdrop soon. Ilyshin airplane has two characters. The first one is that it is

usually to be used for high attitude airdrop. Captain Qiu's airplane will do

the airdrop in 5800 meter above the ground. The second character is that it can

airlift large amount of goods. So it can airdrop large amount of goods into disaster

area.

0:32: Right now, it is May 15th 7:30 pm, after we took off,

we have been waiting two hours for airdrop, because there are a lot of other

helicopters on the sky of Wenchuan. They are busy for airdrop. So our big plane

must wait them to finish their job before we head to Wenchuan. If we count from

May 15th 2 am, this is fifth airdrop mission of this crew. Our current

destination is Wenchuan County. Now, we are flying over some mountain with

height between 4000 meter and 5000 meters. The reason that this plane is flying

as high as 5800 meter is too avoid these high mountains. But Ilyshin plane usually

airdrop at 600 meter for normal tasks. This time, we are flying almost 6000

meters above the ground, which are 10 ten times higher than attitude Ilyshin plane

usually is. This greatly reduces the precision of airdrop. So in order to

airdrop the relief good precisely into the disaster hit area like Wenchuan, the

pilots must do the accurate calculation. And the difficulty of flying also

increases greatly. The topography of this region is very complex. Right now, it

is May. There is still a lot of snow on the mountain top. There are only 4

minutes away before airdrop.

2:56. Now is 8:30 pm. This crew used 1 hour to airdrop 52

items of relieve goods to disaster area. Their total weight is about 5 tons.

They included water, instant noodles, and various foods. There will be more

airplanes heading to disaster hit area.

3:32 Because the task and routes of relief troop was constantly

changing, so our journalists made many attempts before we can reach them.

Finally, we have news about them at May 15th 6 pm.

3:40: I want to know what happened to 15 paratroopers under

your command after they landed yesterday.

3:50: It is very safe. Both people and goods.

3:52: Excellent!!! Let me ask your second question, what do

you plan to do next?

3:58: According we knew, there are no other troops reached

here. There are great difficulties for people's life in here.

4:05: May 14th 8 am, 100 special paratroop gather to Tai ping Si Airport of Chengdu. They did a 3 hours of intense preparation on goods and equipments. They took off at 11 am. Their task is to conduct surveillance on the region centered at Mao country which also includes Wenchuan County, Li country and Beichuan County. Those counties suffered most in the earthquake and are difficult for other land troop to reach them. Because Mao County has complex topography, there are terrains, which are higher than 5000 meters, surround it, so air force decides to do the parachuting at 4000 meter above the ground. This poses a great challenge to pioneer parachuting team and pilots of airplane. This is the first time ever in air force's history that parachuting is done in critical state which is without land guidance, without detail landmark, and without oxygen. After 10 to 20 minutes, 15 paratroopers land on ground and use the satellite phone to send back the information on disaster in Mao County around 3 pm. At May 15th 2 am, air force uses their information to carry out the largest airdrop of food and medicines since rescue mission began.