The C-17 Globemaster can transport 150 soldiers, and a machine with 640 people took off on Sunday. The crew did not want to drive the desperate civilians off board by force of arms. The heavy weight was not the greatest risk.
The C-17 Globemaster is one of the largest and most powerful cargo aircraft in the USA. On Monday, the pictures from on board the RCH 871 went around the world. 640 people sat tightly packed on board the cargo hold – the jet is designed for the transport of 150 soldiers. How was that possible, one wonders? But the technical answer is very simple: the C-17 has seats for the regular transport of troops. For this purpose, special modules are mounted on the floor. The soldiers sit across the torso. Then there are seats for 150 men – but the huge aircraft can lift 77 tons in the air even in normal operation. And the photo that Defense One first published shows how it worked: The 640 people sit like sardines pressed together on the floor – just like cargo. They could only take one small rucksack with them. So the machine shouldn’t even have been overweight.
The RCH 871 aircraft of the 436th Air Wing took off from Kabul on Sunday evening, the C-17 jet was supposed to take employees of the US embassy on board. It was not planned to take the civilians away. The civilians ran onto the tarmac and climbed into the plane through the still open hatch. This boarding was neither ordered nor desired, but the soldiers deployed could only have kept civilians, including women and children, away from the nearby rescue aircraft with sharp shots.
After the hatch was closed, the cargo plane was filled to the brim. Instead of trying to force the refugees off the plane, “the crew decided to start,” a defense official told Defense One. “About 640 Afghan civilians left the plane when it arrived at its destination.” The crew themselves believed there were as many as 800, according to sound documents on board.
Provided in the manual
This type of bulk loading is envisaged, albeit not with these amounts. When the machine is not seated, belts are stretched across the hold to give the passengers support. This prevents the mass of people from sliding and the passengers crushing each other. The procedure is not unique. In 2013, a C17 transported 670 people to the Philippines in this way.
The aircraft of the US Airlift are refueled in the air, which further increases their capacity as they do not have to start with a full tank in Kabul. At take-off, the weight of the passengers should have been the least of the concerns. In the chaos at the airport, unregistered people got on board. One fear is that suicide bombers will mingle with civilians and detonate an explosive charge in the waiting crowds at the airport or even here on board a US aircraft.
Other pilots also had to make difficult decisions on Monday. Desperate Afghans clung to the undercarriage of the machine, but the pilots took off anyway.
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