Day in the Life of the RCAF: Trenton - C-17 Globemaster III - Episode 8

The C-17 Globemaster, we have five of them in the Canadian fleet. It's the heavy lifter of the Canadian Air Force. So when we got them, it brought on a new strategic airlift capability for the Canadian Air Force that we didn't have before. So any of the large outsized cargo that the Government of Canada needs to move, the C-17 is going to be the prime choice to move that cargo. For its size, it can land on surprisingly short strips, including semi-prepared strips. So we fly this up to Canada's north to resupply alerts. We can land on airfield strips as short as 3,500 feet and take off from them again. So despite the aircraft's large size, it has excellent performance on shorter strips that other aircraft and commercial aircraft of this size just wouldn't be able to land on. In terms of altitudes, it depends heavily on the weight. When we load it up very heavy, it can't fly nearly as high as it can if it's flying empty. Any time an operation is going out the door, the C-17 is likely to be involved moving people and cargo out in the early stages of the operation, then sustaining it throughout the lifetime of that operation, and then bringing things back at the end. So we're usually involved at every stage, and having it as part of the Canadian fleet instead of having to contract that airlift gives us more flexibility and responsiveness to respond to issues around the world. Recently, we've seen it with moving tanks in support of Ukraine, but we've also seen it in terms of delivering humanitarian assistance that didn't fit into some of the other aircraft that we have. I was personally involved with bringing the water purification units to Iqaluit to help out with the water situation they were having there. We've also used it for personnel evacuation. These planes were involved in the evacuation of Kabul in 2021, where we managed to get 535 people onto one of these aircraft on a single flight. Any time you're bringing people out of a bad spot or you're delivering supplies to help a situation in Canada or around the world, that's one of the most fulfilling missions that people can do on the C-17. The other ones being supporting operations that have high visibility across the world. It's nice when you're flying a mission and you can see the immediate impact that it's having on the world stage. I don't think there's a better squadron to be in in the Air Force, and I think you'll probably hear a lot of people saying that. I'm sure there's some bias, but 49 is great. I love being able to see the immediate impact of the squadron's work. I feel like a lot of times I'm watching the news in the morning and knowing what the squadron's job is going to be coming up because we're so plugged into global events and the Government of Canada's response to those events.