Hurricane Hunters crew disciplined

BILOXI, Miss. - Five crewmen from the Biloxi-based 403rd Wing’s “Hurricane Hunters” squadron have been disciplined for making an unauthorized flight stop in Massachusetts to pick up a vintage motorcycle that belonged to one of the crew. The five reservists were spotted in Martha's Vineyard in March to load a 1970 BMW R75/5 motorcycle into the plane before continuing on an assignment to California, The Sun Herald reported. In a news release May 10, Lt. Col. Marnee Losurdo, chief of public affairs for the wing, said the aircrew have faced "both administrative and aircrew qualification-related discipline for misuse of a WC-130J Super Hercules aircraft.” No further details were released. “The personal stop was an abuse of government assets,” said Col. Stuart M. Rubio, Wing commander. “We hold our reservists to the highest standards of conduct and these actions are not tolerated.” The crew left Keesler Air Force Base on March 24 and landed at Quonset (RI) Air National Guard Base. Without their superiors' knowledge, the next day the crew made a detour to Martha’s Vineyard before continuing their assigned mission, which was to pick up equipment from Mather, Calif., the news release said. Wing leadership was notified March 27, grounded the crew in California and sent another crew to pick up the aircraft and crew March 28, according to the news release. The motorcycle remains in California. (Source: The AP 05/12/22)