Charleston AFB’s Public Affairs Officers. This mission would allow the trainee pilots to practice low-level navigation, as well as short-field takeoff and landing techniques.
About 1700/5:00 PM, Christa, John, and I presented ourselves on the ramp in front of Aircraft 930600, also known as P-16. This is a nearly new (Fiscal Year 1993 [FY-93]) C-17A. However, don’t get the idea that the 437th is babying these birds. P-16 already had over 1,750 flight hours before we arrived, and would acquire more before the night was out. As we got aboard, Christina gave us a quick tour of the aircraft as well as a safety briefing. Then we headed upstairs to the flight deck to get ready to take off. Major Higa took the copilot’s (right) seat, while Eric took the pilot’s (left) spot. Christa and I took the two jump seats behind the flight crew, while John and Doug sat in the rear-facing passenger seats in the crew rest area, and Christina took her seat at the loadmaster station downstairs. After less than a half hour of preflight checks, Eric and Tim started the four engines and completed the preflight checklist. By 1748/5:48 PM, we were lined up at the end of the Charleston AFB runway, ready to roll. Our call sign for this evening would be “Heavy-51,” a direct reference to our aircraft’s size and weight.
Eric advanced the engine throttles, and I got my first shock of the evening. The acceleration was more like a fighter plane than a transport capable of hauling a main battle tank. In less than 3,000 feet/915 meters, we were off, headed up into the Charleston AFB traffic pattern. Following a quick touch-and-go back at Charleston, we headed south towards the city itself. It was a gorgeous night, and the huge panoramic windows make it easy to keep an eye on nearby airborne traffic. They also are wonderful for sight-seeing. We continued south towards Savannah, Georgia, making land-fall just north of the huge container port. At this point, we began a low-level flight (about 2,500 feet/762 meters over the water) headed north along the coast. The ride of the big airlifter was so smooth, I almost forgot that we were airborne as I watched the sights go by. Shrimp boats of all sizes were visible, as were naval and cargo vessels out of Charleston. As we passed by the mouth of Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter was clearly visible on our port side. By this time, the sun was low in the western sky, and the visibility was probably over 50 miles/80 kilometers. The flight was going like a dream, and Major Higa seemed pleased with Eric’s performance. However, the interesting part of our mission was yet to come.
Heading west, we crossed the coastline, heading towards what is called North Field. This is a small military airfield which the U.S. Air Force (USAF) uses for practice in short-field takeoffs and landings. Along with our aircraft, several other C-17s were using North Field for practice this evening, so Tim made considerable use of our extra eyeballs to keep an eye out for other air traffic in the area. Arriving over the field at about 1900/7:00 PM, we lined up for a high-angle-of-attack (AOA) short-field landing. I’ve done these in C-130s before, but never an aircraft the size of the C-17. However, P-16 was stable throughout the approach, and only the sudden thump as the landing gear hit the runway and the sudden deceleration from the engines’ thrust-reversers indicated that we had touched down. The rollout was again less than 3,000 feet/915 meters, and we pulled around behind another 437th AW C-17, call sign “Heavy-64.” As we waited our turn on the runway, Christina disembarked from P-16, wearing a communications headset, to guide the crew in the darkness of North Field. Less than ten minutes after landing, we were up again, getting back into the pattern to do another short-field landing/takeoff cycle. This time Captain Doug Slipko took over the left seat, while Major Higa stayed in the copilot’s position. What followed were three more takeoffs and landings at North Field, before we headed southwest towards Augusta, Georgia.
By 2000 hours/8:00 PM, we were in the Augusta airport traffic pattern, getting ready for another series of touch-and-gos. Doug and Tim did a pair of these in the now-dark sky, before heading east towards Charleston AFB. By 2100/9:00 PM, they had P-16 in the Charleston traffic pattern, ready to finish up the mission. Once again, Doug and Eric changed seats, and set up for another touch-and-go. Once they had completed this, they finally lined on the main runway to land and finish up for the night. We landed at 2105 hours/9:15 PM, and taxied over to our parking spot. It had been a busy night, but also an informative one.
One immediate impression that you get from watching the C-17 flight crews is how little their hands are on the throttles and stick. Other than during takeoff and landing, most of their interaction with the flight-management system is through the controls running across the top of the control console and the various multi-function displays (MFDs). This is much more like that of a “glass cockpit” airliner like a Boeing 777 or Airbus than, say, a C-5 or C- 141. The automated flight controls of the C-17 mean that the crews have to be trained in a whole new science: flight crew resource management. This means that with only two crewmen on the flight deck, there is a lot of work during high-stress situations (like takeoff and landing) that must be effectively distributed. However, the USAF seems to be doing an excellent job with this, and I felt very safe and comfortable throughout the flight. I was also impressed with the ease with which Christina was able to handle all of the loadmaster jobs around the aircraft. Thanking Tim, Eric, Doug, and Christina, we hopped aboard the crew van for our ride back to the parking lot and our cars. It had been a memorable night.
Charleston AFB, South Carolina, Monday, September 16th, 1996
After a pleasant Sunday touring Fort Sumter and downtown Charleston, we went back to fly with another crew from the 437th. This time, Christa, John, and I were assigned to take part in a two-ship airdrop mission that would take us up to North Field and then Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. We would fly with a 14th AS crew aboard an FY-94 C-17 (940065, also known as P-20). We would fly as wingman (call sign “Moose-12”) to a 17th AS C-17 (930600/P-16, the same bird we flew on the previous flight; this time their call sign was ”Moose-11”), each carrying a single airdrop pallet, which we would drop at Little Rock AFB. For this mission, along with 2nd Lieutenant Baker, we were joined by Lieutenant Glen Roberts, the deputy in the Charleston Public Affairs Office.
We all showed up on the flight line around noon, since this was to be a long day of flying and training. Once again, I buckled into one of the jump seats, and we took off around 1230 hours/12:30 PM. Once again, we headed out over the city and Atlantic Ocean, and then turned north to run up the coast. Today, though, was hardly the clear flying weather of the previous mission. Overnight, a pair of weather fronts had collided in a late-summer storm front that was extending from Texas to South Carolina. The air was filled with puffy clouds that looked like cathedrals in the sky. During our run up the coast, the flight crew engaged the Station Keeping Equipment (SKE) systems, which automatically tracked the P-16 ahead of us, and then directed the autopilot to fly in an exact 1,000-foot/305-meter trail position. This gear is one of the keys to a successful precision airdrop, and can even work among different kinds of aircraft (C-130, C-141, C-5, or C-17) within a formation. What made this even more impressive is that all of the SKE functions are controlled and displayed through the color MFDs on the control consoles.
By 1300 hours/1:00 PM, we had passed Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and had turned inland towards North Field. This time, we would do a simulated airdrop as practice for the real thing a little later at Little Rock AFB. While Christa I stayed up front, John and Glen moved down to the cargo compartment to watch the loadmasters at work. They strapped in and watched as the loadmasters (there were two today) prepared for the simulated drops. Then, at 1340 hours/1:40 PM, as the flight crew lined up on the field, the loadmasters opened the rear ramp, and executed the training drop precisely on the planned target. Buttoning up the rear ramp, the crews turned the two aircraft of “Moose” Flight southeast towards Little Rock, Arkansas. During the two-and-a-half-hour run to Arkansas, John took the opportunity to get some sleep in one of the crew rest bunks behind the flight deck. Despite his large size (at 6’ 3”/1.9 meters tall, John is a big guy!), he looked terribly comfortable, and told me later that he slept well.
By 1600/4:00 PM, Little Rock AFB was in sight, and we headed down to do the training drop. This time, Christa joined Glen, John, and the two loadmasters in the rear of the aircraft as the pallet was readied for dropping. The flight crews dropped the two aircraft down to 500 feet/152 meters above ground, and the loadmasters opened the rear ramp for the drop. However, as the two aircraft reached the drop point, the ugly weather that we had been skirting finally reached out and touched us. Both aircraft passed through a small wind shear (downdraft) directly
