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Contact:
George Sillia |
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Contact:
George Sillia |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
97-77
LONG BEACH, Calif., March 27, 1997 -- A McDonnell Douglas (NYSE: MD) C-17 Globemaster III from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., recently spent more than three weeks flying missions throughout Australia and Asia without a single maintenance delay.
A C-17 from the 437th Airlift Wing participated in training visits to U.S. Air Force bases in Japan and Korea, participated in the Air Show Down Under at Melbourne, Australia, and also flew aerial maneuvers in Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore.
The airplane flew just over 121 hours, made 69 landings and required only minor maintenance actions.
The aircraft flew with no special arrangements, except for routine spare parts and a group of maintenance technicians, who also provided training for en route bases that will routinely handle C-17s. Every scheduled performance was successfully flown.
Reliability and maintainability are two of the hallmarks of the C-17's capability. In fact, during the Air Show Down Under, the C-17 flew an operational mission to pick up and bring in ground support equipment from elsewhere in Australia.
The Air Force's fleet of 29 operational C-17s has surpassed 50,000 total flying hours, not including more than 1,000 hours on T-1, the dedicated test flight aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The 30th operational C-17 will be delivered to Charleston later this month.