Staff Sgt. Chris Bickley, a 50th Airlift Squadron flight engineer, walks the wing of a C-130 Hercules on March 24, 2011, on the flightline at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. Sergeant Bickley checks the C-130 wings to ensure nothing is out of order before taking off. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Airman 1st Class Ellora Stewart)

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Senior Airman Ashley Baucum, a 19th Operations Squadron air traffic controller, scans the flightline April 7, 2011, from the air traffic control tower at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The base tower oversaw more than 130,000 flying missions in 2010. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Chris Willis)

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Loadmasters from the 189th Airlift Wing bring cargo into a C-130 Hercules on March 24, 2011, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The 189th AW is one of the three wings at Little Rock producing the largest C-130 fleet in the world. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Chris Willis)

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Loadmasters from the 189th Airlift Wing bring cargo into a C-130 Hercules on March 24, 2011, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The 189th AW is one of the three wings at Little Rock producing the largest C-130 fleet in the world. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Chris Willis)

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Airman 1st Class Travis Barnes, a 314th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, performs a pre-flight check on the propeller of a C-130 Hercules on March 24, 2011, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Chris Willis)

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Staff Sgt. Chris Bickley, a 50th Airlift Squadron flight engineer, performs a pre-flight check inside the flight deck of a C-130 March 24, 2011, on the flightline at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. Sergeant Bickley also looks around the C-130 with the aircraft’s crew chief to assist in pre-flight inspections. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Chris Willis)

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A C-130 takes off from the base runway March 24, 2011, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The base provides the largest C-130 transport fleet in the world, supplying humanitarian airlift relief to victims of disasters, to airdropping supplies and troops into the heart of contingency operations in hostile areas. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Chris Willis)

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Senior Airman Keith White, a 19th Logistics Readiness Squadron aircraft services element member, loads cargo onto a C-130 Hercules on March 25, 2011, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Airman 1st Class Rusty Frank)

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A C-130 takes off from the base runway March 25, 2011, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. The base provides the largest C-130 transport fleet in the world, supplying humanitarian airlift relief to victims of disasters, to airdropping supplies and troops into the heart of contingency operations in hostile areas. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Airman 1st Class Rusty Frank)

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From dusk to dawn: non-stop operations at Little Rock

Published April 14, 2011