Iraq air traffic 'picture' clearer because of new Balad facility
Staff Sgt. Wylee Smith, 727th Expeditionary Air Control Squadron weapons director, is responsible for clearing the airspace around a designated battlespace and ensuring the aircraft pilots know exactly where they need to be depending on their missions. The 727 EACS personnel, who are known as Kingpin, moved into a new facility here where they are now co-located with the air traffic controllers of the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Squadron Combined Enroute Radar Approach control office, which is known as CERAP. The relocation helps the two groups of controllers communicate with each other and provide a timelier ?picture? of air traffic in the theater to the Combined Air Operations Center. Sergeant Smith is deployed from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Senior Airman Julianne Showalter)