Like giant, gray pelicans, three C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft
earlier this year lumbered off the runway at Pope Air Force Base,
N.C. On board were 172 paratroopers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne
Division, from nearby Fort Bragg.
The C-17s flew more than 10 hours non-stop–refueling twice
in the air–to deliver their passengers to a remote drop zone
near the Ukraine-Polish border. Over the drop zone, the paratroopers
tumbled out, parachuting to the ground as part of a joint training
exercise with the Ukrainians.
The operation illustrates the C-17’s ability to deliver combat
troops and their equipment to far away destinations, said Air Force
Col. (Brig. Gen. select) Vern M. "Rusty" Findley II, commander
of the 437th Airlift Wing, which is headquartered at Charleston
Air Force Base, S.C.
The base–located 16 miles north of South Carolina’s
historic port by the same name–is home to nearly two thirds
of the C-17s deployed by the Air Force, Findley told National Defense.
They may be the busiest transports in the Air Force, he said.
In 1999, Findley explained, the 437th–and the 315th Airlift
Wing, an Air Force Reserve organization, also based at Charleston–flew
more than 2,000 missions, delivering 2,326 tons of cargo to 153
countries.
"We went to almost every country that has an airfield,"
he said.
Charleston C-17s flew more than 1,200 missions in support of NATO
operations against Yugoslavia, according to Findley. They lifted
Army tanks, Apache helicopters and force-protection components into
the small airport at Tirana, Albania.
After NATO ground troops moved into Kosovo, Charleston crews flew
into the airport at Pristina. At Christmas time, they delivered
16 pallets of shoeboxes full of donated candy, toys and school supplies
to Skopje, Macedonia.
"I really look at Kosovo as the ‘coming-out party’
for the C-17," Findley said. "Ninety five percent of our
missions were on time. That’s better than the airlines."
The C-17s had other work to do in 1999, besides Kosovo, Findley
said. During that same year, Charleston aircraft also delivered
cargo to:
In January, Charleston C-17s are scheduled to begin flying special
operations low-level II missions, inserting and extracting U.S.
commandos during international crises, Findley said. Aircrews have
been training to perform this mission, covertly when necessary,
24 hours per day, seven days a week, he noted.
Breaking News
"When there’s breaking news on CNN, I stand by,"
said Findley, "because in short order we may be tasked to go
somewhere. If you watch the news, you’ll see our logo on ramps
all over the world."
What keeps the C-17 so busy, Findley said, is its sheer utility.
For one thing, he said, it is big, stretching 174 feet from nose
to tail and nearly 170 feet from one wing tip to the other. That’s
more than half a football field in both directions.
The C-17’s cargo compartment is 18 feet wide, capable of
carrying a payload of 84 tons. That’s large enough to accommodate
one of the Army’s 70-ton M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks or
three Bradley infantry-fighting vehicles, Findley said.
In 1998, a C-17 from Charleston transported Keiko–the 10,000-pound
killer whale featured in the "Free Willy" movies–and
a 35,000-pound transport container from Oregon to Iceland.
The Air Force has other large transports. The C-141 Starlifter–made
by Lockheed-Georgia, a predecessor to Lockheed Martin Aeronautical
Systems, of Marietta, Ga.–is 168 feet long, but its cargo
compartment is only 10 feet wide, and its payload less than 35 tons.
The C-5 Galaxy–also produced by Lockheed Martin–has
a length of 248 feet and a cargo bay able to accommodate two Abrams
tanks or six Bradleys. The C-5, however, requires a 4,900-foot,
hardened runway for landings, limiting its usefulness in undeveloped
or isolated locations.
Also, both the C-141, which has been flying since 1963, and the
C-5, which debuted in 1968, are nearing the end of their service
lives. The C-141 is being retired. Charleston’s 16th Airlift
Squadron of C-141s was deactivated this summer. The Air Force plans
to update many of its C-5s.
The C-17 is much newer than the other two. Charleston received
the Air Force’s first operational squadron of them–the
17th Airlift–in 1995. Two additional squadrons soon followed.
A fourth is planned. At press time, Charleston had 40 of the 68
C-17s being flown by the Air Force. The service has contracted with
the Boeing Company, of Seattle, to build 120 of the aircraft by
2004. Of those, Charleston is slated to receive a total of 54.
"That’s a good contingent for us," Findley said.
The C-17 is "a really sophisticated aircraft, Findley said.
"It’s state-of-the-art, but it’s not hard to learn
how to fly."
Findley, who previously commanded a wing of KC-135 tankers and
has more than 3,300 flight hours in various aircraft to his credit,
was speaking from personal experience. Since coming to Charleston
in March, he said, "I’ve already got more than 100 hours
in the C-17. I go up and fly with these young guys, and they have
really got it down."
The C-17 has a fully integrated electronic cockpit and advanced
cargo systems that permit it to be operated by a crew of three–a
pilot, copilot and loadmaster.
A C-141, in contrast, has a crew of five, including those just
mentioned, plus two flight engineers, with a navigator added for
airdrops. The C-5 has seven crewmembers, with two additional loadmasters.
Set and Forget
On the C-17, flight engineers and navigators are replaced by computers,
said Lt. Col. Andy Murphy, chief of standardization and evaluation
for the 437th. "It’s pretty much set and forget,"
he said.
The C-17 has an electronic navigator to help with airdrops, Murphy
explained. "The computer provides a female voice that counts
down, ‘five, four, three, two, one,’" Murphy said.
"When it’s time to drop, the voice says, ‘green
light.’ When we leave the drop zone, the voice says, ‘red
light.’ That means the drops are over."
C-17 computers permit the aircraft to be flown on autopilot, even
while in formation, for as long as 11 to 12 hours, Murphy said.
The three crewmembers do have to take on tasks that others used
to do, Murphy said. "With the C-141s, we used to have flight
engineers to service the oil in the engines," he explained.
"With the C-17s, the three crew members do that."
The smaller crews make for more stress, Murphy said. "But
it’s not stress that we can’t overcome by training."
Much of the training is done on the two C-17 simulators at Charleston,
Murphy said. Plans are eventually to add a third simulator, he noted.
The C-17 is powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW2040 turbofan
engines, each providing 40,440 pounds of thrust. Each engine is
large enough for a full-grown man to enter standing straight up.
Exhaust from these engines is used to generate lift, enabling the
C-17 to make steep approaches at relatively slow speeds.
This technology enables C-17s to land on "austere, unimproved
runways" of 3,000 feet, according to Lt. Col. Edmund G. Memi,
public affairs chief of the 437th. "They don’t even need
that much distance," he said. "I’ve seen them land
within 1,500 feet.
"The C-141 can’t do that," Memi said. "Neither
can the C-5. The C-130 can, but it can’t take the outsize
cargo, like the C-17."
What Charleston’s aircrews especially like about the C-17
is its maneuverability, both in the air and on the ground.
In the air, the C-17 "flies a lot like a fighter," explained
Murphy. The electronic flight controls make it a lot more responsive
than most transports, he said.
"It has power steering," he said, "and instead of
the yoke-style steering devices that most transports have, the C-17
has a flight stick." The flight stick makes it easier to see
the heads-up display that pops up, "like in a fighter,"
Murphy said.
Parallel Parking
On the ground, the C-17 can be backed up and turned while in reverse,
almost as agilely as a car, pilots agreed. "You can parallel
park these things," said Findley. In an era of rapid deployments
to isolated, often unimproved airfields, that is a useful ability
to have, he noted.
In Tirana, for example, the airfield often was packed with planes,
said Murphy. "There were a lot of users–Air Force, Army–a
real flurry of activity," he explained. "We had to get
the aircraft off the runway as quickly as possible. We’d land,
come to a halt and back up into a line of parked aircraft. We could
get so close that our wings were practically touching."
In 1995, a C-17, which had flown to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, needed to have an engine replaced, remembered Chuck Lundberg,
on-site engine manager for Boeing at Charleston. C-17s flew in the
replacement engine, parts and personnel to do the repairs.
"It was our first austere engine change," he said. "The
airfield was on a small island. The runway was small, and we had
to share it with Navy fighters. Two C-17s had to land, back up a
long distance–together–and park off the runway. It was
interesting."
Boeing has been providing maintenance support for the C-17 since
1991. Under concept known as flexible sustainment, Boeing provides
logistics support, including heavy maintenance, painting and some
major inspections of the aircraft.
Engine maintenance is conducted by Pratt & Whitney, teamed
with United Airlines, for a dual-coast repair and overhaul capability.
Day-to-day maintenance is performed at bases such as Charleston
by Air Force personnel.
"Make no mistake about it," said retired Air Force Lt.
Gen. John Sams Jr., director of Boeing’s C-17 field services.
"It’s folks in Air Force BDUs (battle-dress uniforms)
who maintain these aircraft."
The Air Force plans to decide by 2003–currently the final
program year for C-17 procurement–whether to continue with
flexible sustainment, move to traditional Air Force organic depot
maintenance or pursue contractor logistics support, Sams explained.
As busy as Charleston Air Force Base is, it must repeatedly contend
with a force of nature–the hurricane. The base was damaged
heavily by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. A decade later, in 1999, the
base had to launch all of its aircraft three times because of hurricanes.
Recovering from storm damage has required years of major reconstruction
of base facilities, including hangars, offices, housing and even
consumer services, such as post exchanges, restaurants and service
stations.
Attention also has been paid to such esthetics as landscaping.
The overall result, Meni said, is an attractive place for Air Force
personnel and their families to live and work. The base, he noted,
won fourth place–and a $50,000 cash award–in the Air
Mobility Command’s annual base appearance competition.
The Air Force works hard at getting along with the residents of
the greater Charleston area, Meni explained. Many residents, he
said, now live underneath the flight paths of Charleston’s
C-17s, as they take off or glide in for landings.
The C-17’s engines make a distinctive, high-pitched whine
that has to irritate people in the flight path from time to time,
Meni said. But he noted that most of the training flights are done
at no lower than 500 feet, in accordance with Air Force and Federal
Aviation Administration directives.
Complaints, he said, are investigated and a report issued within
one to 10 working days. But most Charleston residents are pretty
understanding, he said.
One of them is Carlos Anderson, a bus driver who lives in North
Charleston. "Nothing’s falling off any of my shelves,"
he said. "We get more noise from the trucks on I-26 than from
the C-17s."