Spotted in a real unlikely place yesterday.....all throttled back and in a steep descent, when it ghosted over the high ridge line above the small canyon I had just landed in, it got my attention. It appeared to be U.S. Air Force grey. Throttled back and in that descent, the noise it made was doubly unexpected, not much at all and not what I expected to see at that place and time! Very cool, but it made me curious, what the hell is it?

C-5? Crazy how quiet they can be when they want to . Had one fly over my house the other day . Never heard it until it was already past .

That's a C-17. Fitting to post here, they were designed for STOL ops.

Guess I was only 12 off

Funny, that was my guess also, thanks for confirming. I think I know the rest of the story and why it was in the area, but if I told, I would have to kill all of you. I'm just glad they are on our side

Built to operate in and out of 1,000 strips and can back up on the ground at incredible speeds. I saw one demonstrated in Anchorage this year.... landed short, backed up, lowered the ramp, unloaded "assault" vehicles and took off, all in less than 1.000 feet! Impressive

Yes, very impressive aircraft that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the cockpit.

In doing a little reading up on this aircraft, I discovered this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Presidential_limousine_loaded_in_aircraft.jpg

I never thought about it until now, but the POTUS always motorcades around at his various campaign and fund raising activities after disembarking AF1. How did the car get to where he is? Now we know.

Our hard earned tax dollars at work.

Maybe they had the wrong airport: http://www.flyingmag.com/news/cause-c-1 ... t-revealed

Fortunately, like Deadpool, they used 'maximum effort' braking.

I too saw that the C-17 is the aircraft of choice for moving POTUS'S vehicle around. That kind of puts my setup of the folding ebike in the RANS into perspective. Bet I have more fun though.

I think I know the rest of the story and why it was in the area, but if I told, I would have to kill all of you.

Flying Joseph?????

Go to MWH sometime on a weekday and see us beat up the 27/09 pattern. It's our 3500ft runway!

piperpainter wrote:Go to MWH sometime on a weekday and see us beat up the 27/09 pattern. It's our 3500ft runway!

Is that you heading west over my House in Ellensburg about 1400 each afternoon? My wife says "The big one is headed home again".