C-5 Galaxy
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Image:Usaf.c5.galaxy.750pix.jpg The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is one of the largest military aircraft in the world. It can carry outsize and oversize cargo intercontinental ranges and can take off or land in relatively short distances. Ground crews can load and off load the C-5 simultaneously at the front and rear cargo openings.
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Mission
The C-5, with its tremendous payload capability, provides the Air Mobility Command (AMC) intertheater airlift in support of United States national defense. The C-5 and the C-17 Globemaster III are partners in AMC's strategic airlift concept. The aircraft carry fully equipped combat-ready military units (including main battle tanks) to any point in the world on short notice, then provide field support required to help sustain the fighting force.
Features
Image:Super Scorpio C-5 Loading.jpg Features of the C-5 include:
- A cargo hold 121 feet long, 13.5 feet high, and 19 feet wide (37 m by 4.1 m by 5.8 m).
- An upper deck seating area for 73 passengers beyond the crew.
- Able to take off fully loaded within 8,300 feet (2,530 m) and land within 4,900 feet (1,490 m).
- Stall speed at maximum landing weight is approximately 105 knots (120 mph).
- High flotation landing gear with 28 wheels sharing the weight.
- Nose and aft doors that open the full width and height of the cargo compartment to permit faster and easier loading.
- A "kneeling" landing gear system that permits lowering of the parked aircraft so the cargo floor is at truck-bed height to facilitate vehicle loading and unloading.
- Full width drive-on ramps at each end for loading double rows of vehicles.
- MADAR, a system that records and analyzes information and detects malfunctions in more than 800 test points.
The C-5 is similar in appearance to its smaller sister transport, the C-141 Starlifter, although the C-5 is much larger. Both aircraft have the distinctive high T-tail, 25-degree wing sweep, and four turbofan engines mounted on pylons beneath the wings. The Galaxy carries nearly all of the Army's combat equipment, including such bulky items as its 74-ton mobile scissors bridge, from the United States to any theater of combat on the globe.
The C-5 has four TF39 turbofan engines, rated at 43,000 lbf (191 kN) thrust each. They weigh 7,900 pounds (3,580 kg) each and have an air intake diameter of more than 8.5 feet (2.6 m). Each engine pod is nearly 27 feet (8.2 m) long.
The Galaxy has 12 internal wing tanks with a total capacity of 51,150 US gallons (193,620 L) of fuel—enough to fill 6½ regular size US railroad tank cars. A full fuel load weighs 332,500 pounds (150,820 kg). A C-5 with a cargo load of 270,000 pounds (122,000 kg) can fly 2,150 nautical miles (4,000 km), offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles (900 km) away from the original destination—all without aerial refueling. With aerial refueling, the aircraft's range is limited only by crew endurance.
Background
The first C-5A Galaxy (#66-8303) was "rolled out" on 2 March 1968. On June 30, 1968 Lockheed-Georgia Co. began flight testing its new Galaxy C-5A heavy transport with the aircrafts first flight taking to the air under the call-sign "Allen-zero-three-heavy". Upon completion of testing the first C-5A was transferred to the Transitional Training Unit at Altus Air Force Base, OK, in December 1969. Lockheed then delivered the first operational Galaxy to the 437th Airlift Wing, Charleston Air Force Base, SC, in June 1970. C-5s are stationed at Altus AFB, OK; Dover AFB, DE; and Travis AFB, CA. AMC transferred some C-5s to the Air Reserve components starting with Kelly AFB, Texas, in 1985; followed by Stewart Air National Guard Base, NY; and Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts. Beginning in October 2005 a squadron was formed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. This unit is made up mostly of aircraft transferred from Dover AFB, DE, and replaces the squadron's C-141's, which were the last C-141's to be retired.
In the mid-1970s, wing cracks were found throughout the fleet. Consequently, all C-5A aircraft were restricted to a maximum of 50,000 pounds (22,700 kg) of cargo each. To increase their lifting capability and service life, 77 C-5As underwent a re-winging program from 1981 to 1987. (In the redesigned wing, a new aluminum alloy was used that didn't exist ten years prior.) The final re-winged C-5A was delivered in July 1986.
The first C-5B incorporating significant improvements such as strengthened wings and updated avionics was delivered to Altus Air Force Base in January 1986. C-5 production concluded with delivery of the last "B" model aircraft in April 1989.
In March 1989, the last of 50 C-5B aircraft was added to the 76 C-5As in the Air Force's airlift force structure. The C-5B includes all C-5A improvements as well as more than 100 additional system modifications to improve reliability and maintainability. All 50 C-5Bs are scheduled to remain in the active-duty force, shared by comparably sized and collocated Air Force Reserve Associate units.
Based on a recent study showing 80% of the C-5 airframe service life remaining, AMC began an aggressive program to modernize the C-5. The C-5 Avionics Modernization Program began in 1998 and includes upgrading avionics to Global Air Traffic Management compliance, improving navigation and safety equipment, and installing a new autopilot system. Another part of the plan is a comprehensive re-engining and reliability improvement program, which includes new General Electric CF6-80 engines, pylons and auxiliary power units, with upgrades to aircraft skin and frame, landing gear, cockpit and the pressurization system. This C-5M modernization program will restore aircraft reliability and maintainability, maintain structural and system integrity, reduce cost of ownership and increase operational capability well into the 21st century. Unlike its Russian counterpart, the civilian- and military-operated Antonov An-124, use of the C-5 is confined entirely to the military sector.
Accidents
There have been four (4) C-5 Galaxy crashes in the history of the plane along with two (2) class-A losses resulting from ground fires and one (1) loss resulting from damage sustained on the ground.
- Aircraft 67-0172 (C-5A) was destroyed during a ground fire at Palmdale, Ca on May 25, 1970 after an ATM (Air Turbine Motor) started backwards and quickly overheated, catching the hydraulic system on fire quickly consuming the aircraft. The engines were not running at the time of the fire and no one was injured.
- Aircraft 66-8303 (C-5A) was destroyed during a ground fire at Marietta, Ga on October 17, 1970. The fire started during maintenance in one of the aircraft's 12 massive fuel cells. One worker was killed and another injured. This was the first C-5 aircraft produced.
- Aircraft (66-83??) (C-5A) was badly damaged on September 29 1971 in Altus AFB, OK when the #1 engine and pylon broke lose and seperated from the wing during the take-off roll, this aircraft was later modified and redesignated a C-5C.
- The first operational loss (crash) of a C-5A type happened on September 27, 1974 when aircraft 68-0227 crashed after over-running the runway at Clinton, OK Municipal Airport during an emergency landing following a serious landing gear fire. The crew mistakenly lined up the plane at wrong airport and landed at Clinton Municipal (4,400 ft rnwy), instead of Clinton-Sherman airfield (13,500ft rnwy).
- The most well known C-5 accident occurred April 4, 1975, with the operational loss of aircraft 68-0218. The plane, carrying orphans out of Vietnam, crashed while trying to make an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhut AB Saigon, after a door lock failed in flight. The crash killed 138 of the 314 aboard, including 127 children.
- Aircraft 68-0216 (C-5A) was badly damaged during an emergency belly landing in 1984 at Travis AFB, CA when the nose landing gear failed to extend, the aircraft was rebuilt as a C-5C
- On August 29, 1990, a C-5A Galaxy transport (aircraft 68-0228) took off from Ramstein Air Base in Germany in support of Desert Shield. It was flown by a 9-member reserve crew (who had all volunteered to fly the mission) from the 68th Airlift Squadron, 433rd Airlift Wing based at Kelly AFB Texas. As the aircraft started to climb off the runway, one of the thrust reversers suddenly deployed, causing loss of control of the aircraft and the crash. Of the 17 people onboard, only 4 survived the crash. All four were in the rear troop compartment. The sole crewman to survive, Staff Sgt. Lorenzo Galvan Jr., was awarded the Airman's Medal for his actions in evacuating the survivors from the wreckage.
- On April 3, 2006 6:42 a.m., a U.S. Air Force C-5B Galaxy (84-0059) assigned to the 436th Airlift Wing and flown by a reserve crew from the 326th Airlift Squadron, 512th Airlift Wing crashed about 2,000ft short of RWY 32, while attempting an overweight emergency landing near Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The airplane, carrying seventeen people, which had taken off from Dover about 21 minutes earlier, reported an in-flight emergency (number 2 engine flameout), 10 minutes into the flight and crashed 11 minutes later. The aircraft broke into three sections and the #1 engine seperated from the wing pylon, thousands of gallons of jet-fuel spilled out, but luckily there was no fire and all 17 aboard survived with no life threatening injuries.
Specifications (C-5M)
| Modern USAF Series | Miscellaneous | |
| C-5 Galaxy | Attack--OA/A-10,AC-130H/U | RC-135V/W |
| C-17 Globemaster III | Bomber--B-52,-2,-1B,F-117A | OC-135B |
| C-20 Gulfstream III | Fighter--F-15/E ,F-22 Raptor, F-16 | KC-10,-135 |
| C-21 Learjet | Electronic--E-3,-4B,-8C EC-130E/J,H | HC-130P/N |
| C-32 C-22B | Transport--C-5,-17,-141B, -20,-21 | MC-130E/H/P |
| C-130 Hercules | C-22B, -32, -130, -37A, -40B/C | MH-53J/M |
| C-141B Starlifter | Trainers--T-1, -37, -38, -43, -6 | HH-60G |
| C-37A Gulfstream V | Weather--WC-130, -135 | UH-1N |
| C-40B/C Clipper | UAV--RQ-1/MQ-1 UAV, Global Hawk | U-2S/TU-2S |
| VC-25 |
Trivia
- The C-5 fuel load is almost equal to the gross weight of a C-141 Starlifter.
- The rudder area is the same as the wing area on the F-104G aircraft.
- The paint weighs 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms).
- The C-5 contains more than 103 miles (165 km) of wire, 4 miles (6 km) of tubing, and 5 miles (8 km) of control cables.
- Each tire wears down approximately 0.002 inch (0.05 mm) per landing.
- Each engine total power output equals the power produced by 800 average automobiles combined.
- The C-5 is also known as FRED (Filthy Ridiculous Economic/Environmental Disaster) by its crews
- The Air Force expects to still be using C5s in the 2040s.
The C-5 aircraft can hold
- 277,000 twelve fluid ounce (355 ml) cans of beverage,
- 76,000 750 ml bottles of wine,
- 328,000,000 aspirin tablets,
- 2,400,000 golf balls,
- 6 Greyhound buses,
- 3 M1 Abrams battle tanks (although it can only take off with two, and typically carries only one with support equipment), or
- Enough fuel for the average American car to make 130 round trips from Los Angeles to New York, or to make 31 trips around the world.
External links
- "C-5A/B Galaxy" from the Federation of American Scientists website
- "C-5 Galaxy" from GlobalSecurity.org
Related content
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