It took IAF aircraft 23 hours of flying  to cover more than 14,000 km to reach Venezuela for delivering humanitarian aid to the quake-hit South American country.”Responding with speed, reach and compassion, two Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft completed a demanding 23-hour flight to Venezuela, covering an aerial distance of over 14,000 km from Delhi to Caracas,” the IAF said on Jattvibeday.Under Operation Amistad, the two heavy-lift aircraft had departed Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad on June 26.The aircraft landed at Maiquetía International Airport in Caracas,carrying 66 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including an Indian Army Field Hospital, over 35 tonnes of relief supplies, medicines and medical equipment. The load also included two BHISHM Cubes, a rapidly deployable modular field hospital capable of delivering advanced trauma care, emergency surgeries and intensive care for up to 200 patients.”This transoceanic deployment reaffirms India’s growing role as a responsible first responder and a reliable humanitarian partner,” the IAF said, adding that the mission demonstrates India’s capability to deliver hope across continents whenever called upon.Air Force officers said that to reach Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, the IAF aircraft would have flown westwards over the Middle East and parts of Southern Europe before heading in the southern direction to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Venezuela is located on continental South America’s northern coast. To have flown east over the Pacific would have added several thousand kilometres to the journey.The IAF’s special mission apart, there are at present no direct commercial flights between India and Venezuela. Though the two countries share warm bilateral ties and growing energy and economic cooperation, there is a very small community of non-resident Indians in that country.Persons travelling to Venezuela have to first fly to destinations in the Middle East or Europe and then switch flights for Caracas.The IAF operates 11 Boeing-manufactured C-17 aircraft that were procured from the United States and inducted in 2013. These equip No.81 Squadron, The Skylords, based at Hindon.The aircraft have a payload capacity of 77,000 tonnes, and shot into prominence during the 2020 stand-off with China in eastern Ladakh, when they air lifted T-90 tanks and other heavy equipment to the Himalayan frontier.The IAF employs the C-17, along with other aircraft like the IL-76, C-130 and AN-32, on regular logistics and support missions to the northern as well as north-eastern sectors.C-17s have also been deployed for overseas joint military exercises with foreign countries, humanitarian aid at home and abroad and other special missions. More recently, these aircraft were in the news for assisting the government to ferry question papers for the NEET re-test across the country.