Why The $340 Million C-17 Globemaster III Became The Center Of Evacuation Efforts | Boot Camp

Why The $340 Million C-17 Globemaster III Became The Center Of Evacuation Efforts | Boot Camp

The c-17 globemaster  is capable of air-dropping 102 paratroopers and transporting massive cargo anywhere in the world armed with cutting-edge aviation electronics the c-17 can cost up to 340 million dollars per plane the c-17 has been used to safely transport covet patients from hostile areas provide aid to the philippines after a hurricane in 2013 and assist in the evacuations out of afghanistan in august 2021 insider got an up-close look at the c-17 also known as the moose.

You can load 172 000 pounds of cargo on here whether it has to do with vehicles or any type of palletized cargo we can take people that's c-17 crew chief staff sergeant joshua estell.

He helps oversee the 13 c-17 stationed at travis air force base cargo is loaded through these ramps at the back of the aircraft so my role here as a c-17 load master is to load these aircraft and will ensure the weight and balance. we are the most busy as load masters on the ground the rear door can also open mid flight to perform an air drop.where cargo is offloaded over a designated area doing air drop is a bit high pressure we'll configure our aircraft in a specific manner so that we can actually ensure that it extracts from the aircraft or at least as safe as we can possibly make it. when performing an airdrop the plane flies to a low altitude and depressurizes.

The load master opens the door releases the locks and allows gravity to move the cargo out the initial decompression is a very strong force.However once the aircraft pressure equalizes to the altitude in which you're at there's no more suction it's just going to be windy for crew members a harness will keep them safe.

We're not gonna have to hold on to something and everything being sucked out of an aircraft that's a very common misconception created in hollywood the c-17 is set up to have 188 seated passengers total there's 54 silo seats 27 on each side we can also load palletized seats so if we get more people in here the c-17 is equipped to carry 102 paratroopers with their gear but load masters can remove the palletized seating and fit many more people in an emergency above the cargo hold is the cockpit the c-17 cockpit has four seats one for the pilot one for the co-pilot and two rear seats for any additional crew on board.

So we actually have two bunks equipped if we have an extended day the pilot's gonna sleep the low masters can sleep just behind the cockpit and through the sleeping area is an escape hatch that way the pilots and everybody that's up here get out if we need to in case we land in water right here it shows you the top of the jet flying the c-17 requires specialized training due to its many unique features there's a couple things again that makes the c-17 unique because the c-17 has a stick usually heavy aircraft have a yoke the c-17 is one of the few large cargo aircraft with a heads-up display or hud my hut takes a lot of the pertinent and valuable information we need as pilots and puts it right in front of our face.

Our air speed our attitude our altitude.how fast we're climbing or descending is all right in front of my face in a very small square a plane as big and heavy as a fully loaded c-17 to take off requires a lot of power. It starts with four pratt and whitney turbofan engines each capable of producing around forty thousand pounds of thrust power typically used to move the plane forward during takeoff the c-17 redirects that thrust downwards from its high mounted wings to flow through these long external flaps generating lift or upward force this design creates nearly twice as much lift as that of a conventional jet airliner pilots have to manage 22 different control surfaces to operate the c-17 using them to create more lift or to turn the massive vehicle.

So there's actually ailerons on the wing that so one will rise while the other one stays down so now you're generating more lift on one wing versus the other and that forces the wing to raise which is how you get a turn the final critical feature of the giant c-17 are actually these small winglets those help us more aerodynamic winglets make landing on short runways possible

by preventing the airflow under the wing from rolling to the top which helps reduce drag in addition to the winglets the c-17 uses the same thrust redirection in landings as it does in takeoffs pilots tilt the nose of the plane forward and add power to the engine  redirecting the thrust energy downwards by gradually changing the angle of the wing flaps they can slow down the speed of the aircraft and gradually lower the plane to the ground.

We don't only conduct operations for the air force if the navy the marines or the army needs to go from one location to another and they deem that a c-17 is what they would want to utilize then they will contact us to move from one location to another.

Today the c-17 is flown by countries around the world like the united kingdom australia and india there are 274 c-17s across the globe with 157 in the active use by the us air force boeing stopped production of the c-17 in 2015 but there is currently no plan to replace the plane as of right now there's no plans to decommission c-17 we are considered one of the workhorses of the military right now because how often.

We find these jets because how new they are and how reliable they are and all the different capabilities that we have with the c-17 this is my job i've been in for 11 years now and i was originally going to do four years and be done.