Scott AFB, IL. - After only 15 years in commission, the C-17 Globemaster III fleet will reach its 1 millionth flying hour this month -- the equivalent of one aircraft flying every minute of every day for more than 114 years without stopping.
A crew of U.S. and British Royal Air Force members will fly a representative mission March 19 to help commemorate the milestone.
No one in Air Mobility Command or at Boeing anticipated reaching this milestone so soon. According to AMC's Tanker Airlift Control Center, the C-17 has flown 59 percent, or about 358,000 additional hours, more since Sept. 11, 2001, than originally scheduled.
Although the additional hours have sped up scheduled maintenance timelines, the fleet has performed with an 84.7 percent mission-capable rate when tasked for missions, said Lt. Col. Donald Dickerson, deputy chief of the AMC headquarters aircraft maintenance section.
"When you look at the punishment this aircraft takes from the environment it operates in -- landing regularly on unimproved surfaces, lengthy stays away from home station maintenance -- the mission capable rate seems to illustrate that the aircraft structures and systems are robust and up to the challenge," Colonel Dickerson said.
The 1 millionth flying hour will not occur at a specific time, but rather during the timeframe the representative C-17 from the Mississippi Air National Guard's 172nd Airlift Wing will be returning to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, from stops in Iraq. The mission will be an aeromedical evacuation flight transporting wounded Soldiers to more advanced medical care at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
"It's an honor for our unit to provide the (tail) for this mission, but it's more than that," said Lt. Col. Tod Wall, 172nd AW Operations Group Commander. "The crew will be composed of active duty, National Guard, Air Force Reserve and international crewmembers, all in support of the global war on terrorism. This is a total force mission ... a real tribute to the warfighter."