Flying the Largest USAF Airplane
Photos By Sagar Pathak
Lights – extended/on, Flaps 40, Anti-skid switch on. With a quick final scan of the instruments, Maj. Patel keyed the mic on the yoke and broadcast on 126.35 “Dover Tower, Jumbo 70, ready for take-off Runway 01.” And like a duet played out millions of times before countless missions across Air Mobility Command (AMC), a reassured reply came in over the headset. “JUMBO 70, Dover Tower, cleared for takeoff Runway 01.” Although this was a routine local training flight, had it been a real mission, the response would have been the same. Each mission is prepped and flown as if it was an actual combat mission. Flight Engineer Broaden McDonald gave a thumbs- up from his station behind the right pilot seat and the checklist continued. Brakes released.
And with that we were ready to fly. Major Vishal Patel and Captain Jason Feys from the 9th Airlift Squadron and part of the 436th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, pushed the four General Electric CF6 engines to takeoff power. Within seconds, the massive Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy, with its newly modified engines, revved up and we began to inch forward. Slowly our airspeed increased...10 kts... 20 kts... with our goal being to hit a Vrot speed of 120 knots, at which point, the mighty C-5Ms’ nose gear would rotate and lift off the runway.
Photos By Sagar Pathak
And just like in my Piper Cherokee and all other general aviation aircraft, the basics of flight were the same. Go fast enough so that the wind over the wings generates lift. But when you are flying the largest aircraft in the Air Force inventory, there are just a few more moving parts and just a few extra steps in the checklist. Establish a positive rate of climb, gear-up, and we start our climb towards our first checkpoint at 10,000 feet and start the after-takeoff checklist. “JUMBO 70, Dover Tower, contact Dover Departure 123.435.”
The mission of the C-5M Super Galaxy is simple enough; provide transport of military equipment and personnel around the globe. And while the Air Forces’ Air Mobility Command, whose mission is to provide rapid, global mobility and sustainment for America's armed forces, has other cargo planes (the C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III), they pale in size and load capacity when compared to the enormous C-5M. It is more than 222 feet wide, 247-feet 10-inches long, and the tail stands 65-feet 1-inch high. Nose to tail, the Super Galaxy is longer than the first Wright Brothers flight.
As the flight crew levels the C-5M at 20,000 feet, they begin the Cruise checklist. They validate that the appropriate speed is approximately 430 kts. ground speed, that they are flying the correct course, and make sure that instrument scan is normal: Basically that the plane is in good working order. We were handed off Center to Center as we made our way west to our next training objective, to conduct a rendezvous over Kentucky for aerial refueling (AR) with another AMC aircraft. The lead aircraft (refueling tanker) will pass jet fuel to the receiving aircraft, our C-5M.
Aerial Refueling is a lot of precise movements and coordination with the refueling tanker. It’s a coordinated dance in the sky where you are 12-13 feet from another plane. And just like dancing, the two aircraft have to move together as one or else you could step on your partner's toes, or in our case, a much worse outcome if the two aircraft come in contact with each other in the sky.
We approached our aerial refueling IP (initial enter point), and just on cue, on the discreet aerial refueling frequency, JOHN 86 came on. "JOHN 86 on time, ready for air refueling, 400 kts. TAS and at FL200 feet." My heart began to pound as this was the most dangerous part of the training mission. JOHN 86 was a KC-10 from the 32nd Air Refueling Squadron and part of the 305 Air Mobility Wing out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Maryland and it’s mission was to deliver 10,000 lbs. of precious jet fuel in a coordinated aerial ballet at 20,000 feet above the skies of Kentucky.
With the KC-10 tanker in sight high and to our left, we started to maneuver so that we were directly behind the refueler. The first part of the rendezvous starts off 1,000 feet behind and below the tanker. This is so our C-5M pilots have a good visual and are in a good position behind the tanker. Capt. Feys is first up to attempt to get gas. He starts too slowly and methodically minimizing the distance between the two aircraft.
As the planes fly together, minute inputs on the power and flight yoke have a large impact on the large Super Galaxy. The planes began to close at about 1-2 feet per second; with the whole flight moving together at about 6 miles per minute through the skies above Kentucky.
The next safety checkpoint is “Pre-contact” which is when Capt. Feys and the C-5M is a mere 50 feet behind the KC-10 tanker. Capt. Feys stops moving closer to the KC-10 where he adjusts the throttles and makes sure the plane is trimmed up and stable. Capt. Feys announces on our discrete frequency, “JUMBO 70 Stable.” The Boom Operator on JOHN 86, who is responsible for safely transferring fuel from the KC-10 to the C-5M, calls out “70 cleared to contact.” And the C-5M resumes to inch closer to the KC-10 filled with jet fuel.
In addition to intense concentration, there is constant communication during this dangerous activity. While one pilot is flying the plane, the second pilot, Maj. Patel in this case, is acting as a safety observer. And even the two KC-10 pilots, who are leading the formation, are constantly communicating so that there are no surprises to the two very large aircraft in tight formation. They give the Capt. Feys and Maj. Patel a heads up prior to the formation making a left turn with a “Tanker coming left” as they reach the end of a fictitious oval racetrack in the sky.
As the two jets move closer there is a bow wave that forms between them. Physics is not your friend in AR. The air between the aircraft causes both of the aircraft to pitch up and down as the wave intensifies. When the 247-foot-long C-5M, with a wingspan of 222 feet approaches the tiny 181-foot- long and 165-foot-wide KC-10, for the Extenders’ pilots, it’s like being in rowboat and a whale surfaces below you. The C-5M pilots have to follow the visual references on the bottom of the KC-10 that guide them to stay in the proper position. Yet the bow wave tries to push the nose of the C-5M down. Capt. Feys has to anticipate this and guide the Super Galaxy through the bow wave and fight the last few feet so that the Boom can make contact with the KC-10’s refueling nozzle into the C-5M’s receptacle, which is basically trying to put a 75-pound, 6-inch-wide stick into the door on top of the C-5M barely larger than a sheet of paper without scratching the aircraft or puncturing the top of the aircraft which could cause catastrophic damage.
Once you reach the KC-10 and the tanker is passing gas, the pilot's job isn’t finished. Capt. Feys still has to maintain precise control of the C-5M to stay within a small 20-foot by 20-foot square in the sky just below and behind the KC-10 Extender so that the C-5M continues to receive the precious fuel. But thanks to the bow wave, the KC-10 is slowing or speeding up and the C-5M is moving up and down. Refueling a C-5M is like trying to gently move a six-story building the size of a football field within 12-13 feet of another large aircraft.
The reason aircrews practice aerial refueling (AR) is that if the aircraft is over the ocean moving important cargo and there are no bases around, then an aerial refueling tanker will allow you to do it swifter and easier then diverting to an airbase, landing, and waste time refueling on the ground. Having the capability to do AR gives the C-5M the extended range to deliver its cargo anytime, anywhere.
The last maneuver to practice was an Emergency Breakaway. In the event that the C-5M gets too close to the KC-10, threatening an imminent collision, the aircrews execute a specific set of maneuvers to avoid the collision. The Boom Operator on the KC-10 calls out on the discrete frequency “JUMBO 70 Breakaway! Breakaway! Breakaway!” Almost immediately the two aircraft push the performance envelope of their aircraft to escape hitting each other. The KC-10 pilots go full throttle and pull their aircraft into a climb. At the exact same time, the C-5M pilot pulls the throttle back to idle and pushes the nose down to increase the distance between the KC-10. In the C-5M, I feel the sudden deceleration as I get pushed forward in my seat against the shoulder harness and when the nose goes down, my stomach climbs to my throat as we start a rapid descent. If this was a real world scenario, we would have just narrowly avoided a fiery crash that could have potentially taken the lives of more than a dozen aircrew. That is why it’s clearly stated in the training documentation that “Aerial Refueling is inherently dangerous;” an understatement if ever I read one, but in the hands of true professionals, a risk that is calculated and minimized with practice.
With that training objective accomplished, we headed back to Dover AFB for the final phase of flight, which was the landing. This is where the instructors of the 9th AS teach co-pilots the approach and landing phases of flight. Even in my Piper, where the basic steps are the same, things seem a hundred times faster and more complex when you’re at the pointy end of the aircraft producing 205,000 pounds of thrust.
As we pass through 10K, the two pilots get the airplane to landing configuration. As we are in the descent, the aircrew set flaps to 40 degrees, put the gear handle down to lower the landing gear and simultaneously slow to 200 kts. We then request Dover Approach on 132.425, “Approach JUMBO 70, request ILS full stop 01.”
“Jumbo 70 fly heading 150 and cleared ILS 01 and contact Dover tower on 126.35”
We were then vectored into the final phase of landing, which required the pilots to establish the proper rate of descent, set flaps to landing and put the plane into the final landing configuration.
The massive 380,000-pound airplane built in 1985 was steadily descending at 700 ft./min. in hopes of a soft landing. On landing, the pilots are aiming the nose at the landing zone 1,000 feet from the approach end of runway 01 with an airspeed of 130 kts. Capt. Feys constantly cross-checks inside and outside the cockpit as he is manipulating the four engines and flight controls, so that the airspeed and glidepath is on track for a safe landing.
But the visual perception of the cockpit sitting 35 feet above the landing gear introduces a different perception, especially when it comes time to flare. Your eyes are telling you one thing, but the plane is doing something different. The C-5M altimeter assists the pilots by calling the remaining altitude: “100, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10” and Capt. Feys flares and pulls the throttle to idle. And with that, the massive C-5M Super Galaxys’ landing gears kiss the runway at Dover and we are back on the ground.
Once all 28 wheels are on the ground, Capt. Feys will pull all four engines into max reverse. The instant that happens, Maj. Patel deploys the spoilers to destroy all lift and this helps to slow the massive plane down as fast as possible. A plane that is capable of carrying 281,001 pounds of cargo, does not stop on a dime. We took the full 9,000 feet to land and come to a complete stop. Once the After Landing checklist is complete, it's time to taxi back to the ramp. “JUMBO 70, contact Dover Ground 118.875. Welcome back home.”
And with that the training mission for the aircrew was successfully accomplished. The aircrew will spend the next couple of hours breaking down each part of the training mission, learning from their mistakes and identifying opportunities to improve. Then when they are called upon to transport special cargo on a real mission, the Airmen of the 9th Airlift Squadron “Proud Pelicans” will be prepared to provide rapid global mobility, anytime, anywhere.
The author would like to thank Maj. Gen Bibb, AMC HQ PA, Dover PA, JBMDL PA, 9th AS, 32nd ARS, and Lt. Gen. Bussiere for all of their help and support for this incredible opportunity.
Quick Facts:
● First built in 1966.
● Loaded from front and the back simultaneously.
● Carry 70+ pax
● 13 maintenance hours for every hour of flight
● Carry more then 130 Tonnes
● over 100 miles of wires
● 35 feet off the ground
