As they get ready for disaster response training, C-130s land on Highway 63

Bono, Arkansas – On Sunday morning, August 4, the US Military and the Arkansas Department of Transportation collaborated to undertake disaster assistance training exercises.

According to Danny Shaw, the mayor of Bono, this has been planned for months.

This was something that we initially found out about five or six months ago. We met and they kind of told us what to anticipate, but they didn’t give us a specific date until about a week and a half ago. Now that time has come, Shaw said.

Two C-130s were practiced landing on Highway 63 near Bono in case this was ever needed for an actual operation.

Since we reside in the New Madrid fault zone and have always been told that a major earthquake might occur at any time, Shaw remarked, “I don’t know if there’s anything imminent that they are looking at, just all the what ifs.” Tornadoes and other similar phenomena are common.

On Sunday morning at midnight, the military and ARDOT closed the highway and carried out these landing, takeoff, and unloading drills until roughly ten in the morning.

They arrived in the C-130s after bringing in a few smaller aircraft first.

“I thought that was even better when the big planes started coming in, even though you know they landed three planes and we couldn’t really see them,” Shaw remarked.

To see the planes land and take off, people from the surrounding area and other regions of the state came.

Sunday morning about 10:30 a.m., Highway 63 was cleared and operations resumed as usual.