Yes and the lines to the loo were nearly comparable the aircraft's wingspan.Werner wrote:Incidentally, the record of 1088 passengers is currently held by an El-Al B747.
The C-5 fleet is said to be seriously challenged due to age-related mechanical problems. It seems that we are flying those planes to death and the acquisition of the C-17 has been extremely helpful in that regard.JPH wrote:The next USAF Air Mobility Command jets to replace the current VC-25's (the two air force one 747-200's) will be the soon to be released Boeing 748i's. However the A380F does stand a better chance of being the replacement for the ageing C-5 Galaxy Heavy lifts. Although in my humble opinion this to will remain American with the C-5 remaining after extensive refit or Boeing 748F's getting the go ahead.
My last experience on a C-5 (back in 2002) included an unscheduled jet fuel hemorrhage into the cargo bay which resulted in an emergency evacuation of the aircraft prior to take-off. The overpowering smell and sight of a large quantity of fuel was sufficient to motivate people to exit quickly. The aircraft sent to replace it suffered a bird-strike on the windscreen during landing so it too sat on the tarmac waiting a replacement. No other aircraft were available so we waited in a troop terminal in Savannah for 6 days until a third C-5 could be sent. The final replacement aircraft did indeed carry us from Savannah, Georgia to Diego Garcia on the other side of the planet safely and reasonably comfortably without mechanical problems.
For those who might be interested, passengers on a C-5 don't ride in the bay; there is a large passenger compartment above the bay at the trailing edge of the wing. The seats face aft. There are few windows and it's darn loud up there.
On a C-17, passengers do ride in the bay.
