It beggars the imagination.
 

I just saw the footage of a American cargo jet (USAF) which crashed on landing.

It broke into three and somehow all 17 on board survived.

Jetfuel failed to ignite and the individual bits of the C5 looked remarkably intact.

Truly it was not their time to die.

And to think, it's just another job right? Danger surrounds our military even in the relative safety of the States - thank God for all they do for us!

I think you are correct OldFart not their time. What scares me about flying is not that it will be my time but that maybe it's the passenger in seat 23D's time :D

Relax, Lil.

In that case it'll be the airline "meal" that'll get him.

he'll choke on a peanut? :D

Or be beaten to death because the whole aircraft can hear his headphones "doof doof" "thud thud"

Oldfart,

Yup! That's a melluva hess.

The USAF C5A is the military version of a B747. Those were some big pieces.

The C-5 is an enormous plane, as scarecrow said.The plane itself is being credited with the survival of the passengers this morning by former military pilots.I flew in one of these in '84 on a training mission to Japan.The Hummers were loaded first,driven into the rear.Then ,we filed in beside them and sat on either side facing the Hummers .It was a very long and uncomfortable flight, to say the least!!

Pilots have always said any landing you can walk away from is a good one.



A great landing is where they can use the plane again...

Incorrect. The military version of the Boeing 747 is the E-4. Used for airborne command post duties, expecially way back in the cold war days, when large-scale nuclear strike on the US was a worry.

The plane most people think of as "Air Force One" is a further modiifed E-4, although "Air Force One" is a temporary designation, signifying any plane belonging to the USAF and carrying the POTUS.

The C-5, made by Lockheed, is a completely different plane. When it was originally designed and built, it had a unique feature: the front of the plan, as well as the back, had hinged doors. Made it easy to drive a vehicle in the rear end of the plane, fly the vehicle nearly anywhere on the plane, and drive the vehilce off. Saved a lot of time loading and unloading.

Thing about the C-5 compared to the 747: the C-5 is bigger.

Meaning that on the average, it carries more fuel than a 747. And this one crashed on takeoff, meaning that the fuel was probably at as close to full load as it can possibly get. Amazing how none of it went up from this crash.