Air Force has landed

  • Published
  • By Mike Heronemus
  • Editor of the Daily Union
FORT RILEY, Kan. --  The massive metal "bird" looked out of place at Marshall Army Airfield.

It had two wings instead of the helicopter rotors usually seen at the airfield.

It was Air Force gray, not Army olive drab, and it rolled most of the distance of the airfield before it finally gained altitude and cleared the trees and pasture land at the south end of the airstrip.

Pilots and engineers from Altus Air Force Base landed the C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft, at Marshall AAF Oct. 26. Their mission was to check out the local airfield's capability for handling short-field landing training for Air Force student pilots during the coming year. The airstrip Altus normally uses is being repaired.

Being able to land the large transport aircraft on an airstrip that is only 3,500 to 5,000 feet long is important because the aircraft was designed for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout the world. It can also perform tactical airlift, medical evacuation and airdrop missions and is operated by the U.S. Air Force, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada NATO and Qatar.
Marshall AAF manager Troy Mattingly said he has spent about a year recruiting air units from within 1,000 miles to use Fort Riley's airfield while the 1st Combat Aviation Brigade is deployed to Iraq. That unit is due back in March 2011.

The length of Marshall AAF fit their needs, Mattingly said of the Air Force command that trains pilots to fly the C-17s, so they flew in Tuesday to determine if the post could meet other needs for training flights using the airfield, including fire department capabilities. Mattingly said the airfield seemed to meet all their requirements and it is possible people driving by the airfield on Interstate 70 in the future will see the huge gray aircraft landing and taking off from the airfield.

"Most of that training will probably be touch and go landings," Mattingly explained, which means the planes would touch down to the airfield runway but would not stop. They would continue rolling, pick up speed again and take off.

However, Mattingly hopes to arrange some actual landings so that the airfield's fire department personnel and other area fire departments could use the time to practice their procedures in reacting to landing emergencies.

Even more important, Mattingly said the Air Force training would provide his air traffic controllers the practice they need to keep their skills sharp in the absence of the 1st CAB helicopter flights.