C-17 Dirt Landing

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Lt. Col. Andy Hird, 517th Airlift Squadron director of operations, and 1st Lt. Joe Aubert, 535th Airlift Squadron from Hickam AFB, Hawaii, preflight the C-17 for the first Alaskan dirt landing. In support of RED FLAG-Alaska, the pilots verify the low-level route prior to intial take off. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Morgan Sneed)

C-17s complete first dirt landing

Published July 14, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Shane Heiser
3rd Wing Public Affairs

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- "Gear's down, crew. Flaps are full."

"A little hot."

"Good spoilers. All four [engines in reverse] ... now!"

"Nice landing man."

Oxygen masks swung forward on their tethers as the plane lunged nose-low to stop. Less than 2,500 feet of dirt runway was kicked up. Dust swirled as angrily as a tornado in a hot summer storm as the jet's thrust reversers whined underneath the strain of stopping the 360,000-pound C-17 Globemaster III.

Lt. Col. Andy Hird congratulated Maj. Cassius Bentley as the two had successfully completed the first C-17 dirt landing in Alaska.

As the rest of the wing prepared for Arctic Thunder, crews from the 3rd Operations Support Squadron, Alaska Air National Guard's 249th Airlift Squadron, and the 517th Airlift Squadron planned for this historic landing that took place June 18. Colonel Hird, director of operations, 517th AS, and Major Bentley, director of airlift for Det. 1, 353rd Combat Training Squadron, flew one of two C-17s of the day's dirt landings.

"[It's] the first time an Elmendorf jet has landed at Donnelly," said Capt. William Friar, 3rd Wing chief of airlift current operations, who piloted the second C-17. "We tried this in the winter; it didn't work, so today was a new day for Elmendorf. It was good."

Used for RED FLAG-Alaska exercises, Donnelly is an area just south of Fort Greely near Fairbanks. The scenario that day called for fighter escorts. A-10s were swarming like Alaskan mosquitoes as the two C-17s avoided threats by flying low-level until they landed at the remote airstrip. Because Donnelly has no dedicated ground crews, two combat controllers and three fire fighters were the only ones to welcome the Globemasters upon landing.

By nature, dirt landings are shorter than pavement, but the distances vary and conditions are hard to predict, explained Capt. Brett Lent, current operations officer for the 3rd Wing.

"It's extremely dependent on wet or dry, loosely graded or hard packed," said Captain Lent. "It's hard to explain in generic terms."

While flying back to Elmendorf, Captain Friar had a moment to reflect on the excitement of the exercise missions.

"When we went into Iraq, we also had [fighter] escorts," he said. "It's great training in that aspect because you had the same thing then as you do now. This is definitely realistic training for these guys who've never seen it before."