We observed the landing gear of the C-17A and several other attempted stowaways.
Shocking footage of people falling from a USAFC-17A Globemaster IIIwhen he left Kabul last weekripped by internetwhile the world's media tried to make sense of what had happened at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan.
What really happened in those harrowing moments before and just after the C-17A took off, captured in videos and photos that have been published around the world?ElAviacionista.comvisited theNational Museum of the US Air Forceat Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio to see a C-17A landing gear and try to understand more about this horrific incident.
The C-17A Globemaster III uses massive main landing gear to support its typically heavy payloads. With a maximum payload capacity of 170,900 pounds and a maximum gross takeoff weight of 585,000 pounds (over 290 tons), the demands on the C-17A's main landing gear cars are considerable. These heavy loads require the C-17A's massive main landing gear design.
The main landing gear carriages, or large multi-wheel assemblies that support most of the aircraft's weight on the ground, retract into wide ledges on each side of the C-17A at the bottom center of the fuselage. This design is shared by many heavy transport aircraft around the world, including theC-130 Hercules, Ruso IlyushinIL-76, the aerobusA400M-Atlase Chino Xi'anY-20.
At the beginning of the takeoff run in Kabul, some men climbed into these main landing gear fairings. Some of the men may not have understood that the landing gear doors would fold flush with the plane.
There was also evidence that people may have climbed into the landing gear wheel wells. a story inWashington Postrevealed that the C-17A crew was unable to fully retract the landing gear after takeoff from Kabul and declared an aviation emergency. After the emergency was declared, the crew of Flight C-17A was diverted to an alternate landing site "in a nearby country" and successfully crash-landed, according to the Washington Post.
The emergency landing site was later reported to be Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. During the inspection of the main landing gear, "human remains were discovered in the compartment where the aircraft's landing gear is located after retraction".
"The aircraft is currently being impounded to allow time to collect the wreckage and inspect the aircraft before returning it to flight status," US Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told the media in an email. Stefanek went on to say that the Air Force is reviewing "all available information regarding a C-17A aircraft that departed Hamid Karzai International Airport [on Aug. 16] and the loss of civilians, including video documentation and the source of the postings." on the social networks." "
Three days after the tragedy, on August 19, 2021, after a video appeared on social media that appeared to show two people falling from the C-17A, the General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports of Afghanistan reported that on Monday, 16 August, a national team soccer player named "Zaki Anwari" was seen falling from this plane. According to the report inAriana News, Anwari, "died trying to escape the Taliban regime".
The Aviator.comtalked to a Michigan airport firefighter about the chances of a person surviving as a stowaway in the undercarriage of an airplane. “I saw two people try, none survived. At the altitudes and temperatures these planes fly at, that's impossible."
There have been other sensational incidents of people trying to grip the landing gear of an airplane to get comfortable on a plane. On February 22, 1970, a 14-year-old boy named Keith Sapsford climbed into the landing gear compartment of a Douglas DC-8 at Sydney Airport, Australia. The plane was scheduled to fly to Tokyo, but Sapsford did not survive the takeoff.
In an incident eerily similar to the recent tragedy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Keith Sapsford managed to remain in the landing gear until the DC-8 reached an altitude of 200 feet. As the landing gear began to retract, the Sapsford main gear door opened to allow the main gear to retract. Sapsford fell out of the plane and died. Most notably, photographer John Gilpin took pictures of planes taking off from Sydney Airport and snapped a photo of Sapsford's tragic death.
Perhaps most notably, stowaways have survived inside the landing gear of an aircraft on extended flights. On April 20, 2014, Yahya Abdi, a 15-year-old Somali man, squeezed into the main landing gear of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 while flying from San Jose, California to Maui, Hawaii. The five-and-a-half-hour flight reached an altitude of 38,000 feet, where the plane's unpressurized landing gear compartment would have been well below freezing and low on oxygen due to the extreme altitude. Surveillance video from the plane after landing in Maui showed Yahya Abdi descending from the wing and landing on the runway, apparently in a daze from lack of oxygen and hypothermia. According to a report onCNNWhen the incident took place in 2014, Abdi was "trying to see his mother in Africa, where she lives in a refugee camp in Ethiopia".
Before the tragedy of men clinging to the outside of a plane in Kabul, Afghanistan, last week, Top Gun star Tom Cruise performed an eerily similar cinematic scene for the 2014 action film.Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Cruise clung to the exterior of an Airbus A400M Atlas for an action sequence in the film. In fact, the scene was filmed with Cruise outside of an A400M strapped to the plane with a seatbelt and mountaineering harness. Cruise told Hollywood film magazines that performing the scene was "terrifying".
But the story ofrefugee evacuationof war-torn nations is very different from Hollywood's portrayals of action movie stars performing stunts.
Perhaps the most tragic example is the horrific crash of the Galaxy C-5A at Tan Son Nhut in 1975, which killed 138 fugitives, defense intelligence personnel and US Air Force personnel that devastated the country in an incident eerily similar to that of the C -5A evacuated in Kabul. , Afghanistan. 17 flights.
The Tan Son Nhut refugee tragedy occurred on April 4, 1975, when a USAF Galaxy C-5A experienced its rear cargo door failure 23,000 feet above the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam. do Sul. The plane had just departed from Tan Son Nhut Air Base for Clark Air Base, in the Philippines, and was finally heading to the United States with a cargo of Vietnamese orphans and United States personnel.
The crew of the ill-fated C-5A Galaxy managed to bring the huge crippled plane one last time for an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhut, but the plane was unable to maintain altitude and crashed into a rice field, breaking into four large pieces. and caught fire. Tragically, 78 Vietnamese orphans who were evacuated to freedom died in the crash, along with 35 defense attachés and 11 USAF crew members. Miraculously, there were 176 survivors of the crash, most sitting on the second floor of the gigantic cargo plane.
But despite the tragic news after the deaths of refugees trying to flee Afghanistan, on Saturday, August 21, 2021, a story of hope emerged. According to reports that surfaced on Twitter, medical support personnel from the USAF 86th Medical Group helped an Afghan mother give birth aboard a C-17 Globemaster III, call sign "Reach 828", which was on base. the refugees were brought from Afghanistan.
The crew of Flight C-17A may have saved the life of the mother and fetus when they descended from their previous altitude to increase pressure in the plane after the mother went into labor and complications arose. According to a report on Twitter, the flight crew's altitude change "helped stabilize and save the mother's life."
About Tom Demerly
Tom Demerly is a columnist, journalist, photographer and editorial writer who has written articles published worldwide on TheAviationist.com, TACAIRNET.com, Outside Magazine, Business Insider, We Are The Mighty, The Dearborn Press & Guide, National Interest, the State of Russia . media company Sputnik and many other publications. Demerly studied journalism at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan. Tom Demerly served in an intelligence unit as a member of the US Army and Michigan National Guard. His military experience includes an honorary degree from the US Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia (Cycle C-6-1) and as an observer observer in a reconnaissance unit, "F" Company, 425th INF (RANGER/AIRBORNE), Long Range Surveillance Unit (LRSU). Demerly is an experienced skydiver, has advanced SCUBA certifications, has climbed the highest mountains on three continents and visited all seven continents, and has flown several types of light aircraft.
FAQs
Was Afghanistan the largest evacuation in history? ›
In broad strokes, the effort that came to be called Operation Allies Refuge was the largest non-combatant evacuation airlift in U.S. history. Larger than Vietnam.
What happened to the Afghan security forces? ›Afghan forces fell apart because of low morale, internal distrust and the loss of U.S. airstrikes, according to the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction.
What was the real reason the US invaded Afghanistan? ›The United States went to Afghanistan in 2001 to wage a necessary war of self-defense. On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked our country. They were able to plan and execute such a horrific attack because their Taliban hosts had given them safe haven in Afghanistan.
Why are Afghan refugees fleeing? ›Almost 7 million Afghans have been driven out of their homes and Afghanistan by the interconnected challenges of imposed conflicts, ongoing violence, and growing poverty.
What is the largest evacuation in US history? ›Remembering the Largest Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation in US History | Air & Space Forces Magazine. The U.S. Air Force conducted airlift operations to transport approximately 124,000 people from Kabul, Afghanistan, as part Operation Allies Refuge in August 2021.
What is the largest evacuation in world history? ›Mathunny Mathews (Toyota Sunny) (1936-2017) was an Indian, a resident in Kuwait and was one of the people credited with the safe airlift evacuation of about 170,000 Indians from Kuwait during the 1990 Invasion of Kuwait, which is hailed as the world's largest air civilian evacuation in history.
Why the Afghan army didn't fight? ›The researchers highlight three other explanations: (a) the corrupt Afghan government, (b) the removal of US air support, and (c) the fact that while it was young men doing the fighting, it was women and older men who would most benefit from the fighting.
Does Afghanistan have fighter jets? ›...
Afghan Air Force.
| Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
| Role | Aerial warfare |
| Part of | Afghan Armed Forces |
| Headquarters | Kabul |
It is owned by the Government of Afghanistan and operated by UAE-based GAAC Holding on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. It serves as one of the nation's main international airports, capable of housing over one hundred aircraft. It was locally named as Khwaja Rawash Airport.
Does the US get oil from Afghanistan? ›By 2050, the US expects to import more than 80 percent of its petroleum from this region and much of that oil would be extracted from beneath the deserts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The struggle for control of this last great deposit of oil has been called “the Great Game.” In 1998, Unocal Vice President John J.
Does Afghanistan have oil? ›
Most of the undiscovered crude oil occurs in the Afghan-Tajik Basin and most of the undiscovered natural gas is located in the Amu Darya Basin. These two basins within Afghanistan encompass areas of approximately 515,000 square kilometers.
Who funded the Taliban? ›Saudi-based charities, such as the International Islamic Relief Organization, gave funding to the Taliban during its rise. The Saudi Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice supported its new Afghan equivalent.
How many Afghan refugees are coming to the US? ›Some 76,000, the biggest influx of wartime evacuees since the fall of Saigon in Vietnam, have reached the United States. Canada has committed to receiving 40,000 Afghans by 2024, with about 17,000 admitted so far.
Where are most Afghan refugees going? ›Afghan refugees are the third-largest displaced population in the world after Syrian refugees and displaced Venezuelans. The vast majority of refugees from Afghanistan are living in Pakistan and Iran, which continue to host more than 1.3 million and 780,000 registered Afghan refugees respectively.
What benefits do Afghan refugees get? ›- Benefits for Afghan Humanitarian Parolees.
- Initial ORR Benefits (up to 8 months from eligibility date)
- Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA)
- ORR Matching Grant Program.
- Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA)
- Services (up to 5 years from eligibility date)
- Employment Assistance: Refugee Support Services.
- Specialized Programs.
They were among the more than 76,000 Afghans evacuated to the United States last year as the war in their country came to an ignominious end for the U.S. side. Months later, many continue to struggle as the resettlement system responsible for supporting them labors under the extraordinary caseload.
What was the worst evacuation in history? ›April 1986 – The Chernobyl disaster involved an evacuation of an estimated 335,000 people following a nuclear meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).
How many people did US airlift out of Afghanistan? ›In total, over 122,000 people were airlifted abroad. The evacuation completed on August 30, one day prior to a deadline agreed upon with the Taliban.
What are the 3 ways of evacuation? ›3 types of Fire Evacuation include- vertical or horizontal evacuation, full evacuation, and simultaneous evacuation.
How many people have evacuated Kabul? ›All told, according to the U.S. officials interviewed for this report, about 76,000 Afghans were evacuated during the airlift with the goal of reaching the United States before U.S. forces departed Afghanistan on Aug. 30. An additional 9,000 have left the country since then, according to the officials.
How long would it take to evacuate New York City? ›
Most experts agree that no major American city can be evacuated in less than 12 hours, if they can be evacuated at all. New York's Emergency Management Agency expects it would take upwards of 12 hours to complete a citywide evacuation.
Why is Afghanistan impossible to conquer? ›The difficulty in invading Afghanistan was attributed to the prevalence of fortress-like qalats, the deserts, the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan, its severe winter and its enduring clan loyalties, various empires fighting each other while attempting to conquer Afghanistan, and outside neighboring countries support ...
How big is Taliban army? ›...
Afghan Armed Forces.
| Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
| Military age | 18 (voluntary) |
| Active personnel | 110,000–150,000 (2022) |
| Industry | |
Muhammad Sadiq, the Taliban air force commander for Kabul and 12 provinces. They include six repaired Blackhawks, he said.
Can Taliban fly US helicopters? ›First, the Taliban aren't trained pilots capable of safely flying the aircraft, using its sensors and loading and deploying weapons, Kelly said. “They may actually be able to get it airborne,” he said, “but they'd probably be more dangerous to their own wellbeing than they would [be] to people on the ground.”
How many US helicopters were lost in Afghanistan? ›...
Rotary-wing losses.
| Aircraft losses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Lost | Hostile fire |
| OH-58 Kiowa | 33 | 10 |
| AH-64 Apache | 34 | 15 |
| UH-60 Black Hawk | 28 | 13 |
The last US military planes have left Afghanistan, marking the end of the United States' longest war. The last US military planes have left Afghanistan, Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command, announced Monday at the Pentagon.
How many US troops are at Kabul airport? ›Nearly 6,000 U.S. service members were dispatched to Afghanistan as Kabul fell, in what would be the greatest test of the Pentagon's emergency-evacuation planning since the Vietnam War's devastating conclusion decades earlier. Nearly 125,000 people were rescued over 17 days.
Can Americans fly to Kabul? ›We continue to advise against all travel to and within Afghanistan. There continues to be an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack throughout Afghanistan, including in Kabul and at land border crossings. Travel throughout Afghanistan is extremely dangerous. Violent incidents occur across the country.
Are US troops still in Kabul airport? ›...
Withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan (2020–2021)
| 2020–2021 withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
| Summer 2021: 13 killed (11 Marines, 1 Navy corpsman, 1 Soldier) | Unknown |
What mineral is Afghanistan rich in? ›
Afghanistan does sit atop huge deposits of copper, iron, marble, talc, coal, lithium, chromite, cobalt, gold, lapis lazuli, gemstones, and more—making Afghanistan one of the world's most resource-rich countries on paper.
Why doesn't the US produce its own oil? ›The reason that U.S. oil companies haven't increased production is simple: They decided to use their billions in profits to pay dividends to their CEOs and wealthy shareholders and simply haven't chosen to invest in new oil production.
Where does US get most of its oil? ›- The top five sources of U.S. total petroleum (including crude oil) imports by percentage share of total petroleum imports in 2021 were:
- Canada51%
- Mexico8%
- Russia8%
- Saudi Arabia5%
- Colombia2%
| Afghanistan Oil Pipeline | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Owner | Unocal Corporation |
| Technical information | |
| Length | 1,000 mi (1,600 km) |
More than 95 percent of Afghans consume wheat flour and vegetable oil and ghee, the latter being imported mainly from Malaysia, UAE and Pakistan.
How did Taliban get so much money? ›Alongside that, drug smuggling and taxation have also added to the Taliban's coffers. As per the UNSC report, the Taliban take a certain amount of money per kilogram of heroin, and this process repeats in all districts that they have control over.
Where does the Taliban get all their money? ›A significant source of the Taliban is agriculture, as most poppy production is done in Afghanistan in the world. While the Taliban collect 10% tax from opium producers, they collect large amounts of tax from smugglers who turn opium into drugs.
Where do Taliban get their weapons from? ›Taliban weapons
RPGs and other light seized light weapons were first introduced in Afghanistan several decades ago as the United States supplied thousands of weapons to the Mujahideen in the 1980s. The Taliban also benefitted from thousands of more weapons acquired from the former Soviet Union as it left the county.
The Biden administration plans to allow up to 125,000 refugees into the United States for the 2023 fiscal year, the same lofty ceiling as last year, according to a source familiar with the plan.
How many refugees did the US accept in 2022? ›
Yet in fiscal year 2021, the United States resettled only 11,411 refugees — the lowest number since the program began in 1980. On October 3, the government announced that only 25,465 refugees had been resettled during fiscal year 2022, far below the cap of 125,000 set by the administration last May.
How many refugees are coming to the US in 2022? ›President Biden affirmed the United States' commitment to welcoming refugees by increasing the total admissions ceilings in the FY 2022 and FY 2023 Presidential Determinations on Refugee Admissions to 125,000, the highest target in several decades.
Where are all the Afghan refugees going in the United States? ›- Houston, TX. 5,117.
- San Diego, CA. 2,350.
- Sacramento, CA. 1,890.
- San Antonio, TX. 1,763.
- Denver, CO. 1,750.
- Atlanta, GA. 1,590.
- Dallas, TX. 1,338.
- Chicago, IL. 1,328.
...
Afghan diaspora.
| بهر مېشتي افغانان | |
|---|---|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Germany | 337,000 (2021) |
| United States | 300,000 (2022) |
| United Arab Emirates | 300,000 (2023) |
Thousands of Afghan refugees are still living in hotels while they wait for housing Six months after the Kabul airlift, the last Afghan refugees have left temporary camps at military bases in the U.S. But many families are still living in hotels while they wait for permanent housing.
Do refugees pay taxes? ›Over the first 20 years in the U.S., the average adult refugee pays taxes that exceed relocation costs and social benefits. Are refugees a burden on the taxpayer? New evidence suggests that, with a long enough perspective, the answer is no.
How much money do new immigrants get? ›All refugees arriving in the United States will receive $900 when they first arrive.
Do asylum seekers get free housing? ›Most asylum seekers are unable to pay for their own housing. They are also unable to claim benefits. and they are not allowed to work. Asylum seekers can claim financial support and accommodation under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 if they are destitute or likely to become destitute.
What was the largest military airlift in history? ›The Berlin Airlift began June 26, 1948, and lasted 14 months until Aug. 27, 1949. During that time there were 277,800 flights by 300 aircraft from the U.S. and Great Britain. Pilots were from Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand, as well American and British.
What was the largest non combatant evacuation in history? ›As the largest non-combatant evacuation operation in American history, the humanitarian mission saw more than 120,000 Afghan citizens assisted by Airmen and equipment during the operation.
How many did us evacuate from Afghanistan? ›
Evacuations: Prior to August 31, 2021, over 122,000 individuals were evacuated from Afghanistan.
How many total people were evacuated from Afghanistan? ›All told, according to the U.S. officials interviewed for this report, about 76,000 Afghans were evacuated during the airlift with the goal of reaching the United States before U.S. forces departed Afghanistan on Aug. 30. An additional 9,000 have left the country since then, according to the officials.
Which was the largest air base occupied by the US in Afghanistan? ›Bagram Air Base was formerly the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, staffed by the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force, along with rotating units of the U.S. and coalition forces. It was expanded and modernized by the Americans.
What is the largest airplane graveyard? ›The largest boneyard in the world, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, previously allowed tours of its Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) facility.
Why did the airlift end? ›The crisis ended on May 12, 1949, when Soviet forces lifted the blockade on land access to western Berlin. The crisis was a result of competing occupation policies and rising tensions between Western powers and the Soviet Union.
What was one of the largest civilian rescue operations ever carried out in the world? ›The airlift from Kuwait
Air India and other aircraft were deployed to rescue 1,75,000 people. The scale of the evacuations was massive, so much so that Air India found a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records for airlifting the largest number of people in a civilian plane.
Salute Indian Army
Operation Rahat (2013) was one of the biggest civilian rescue operations ever carried out in the world. It was carried out by the Indian Air Force to evacuate civilians affected by the floods in Uttarakhand in 2013.
Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO)
What countries are helping Afghanistan evacuation? ›Troops from the US, UK, Turkey, and Norway played a key role in securing the airport and operating a field hospital, while around 800 NATO staff maintained key operations such as fuelling and communications. NATO Allies and partners continue to work together to help evacuated Afghans start a new life.
What is the Afghans evacuation program? ›Evacuate Our Allies is a coalition of trusted human rights, religious, and refugee organizations working alongside veterans and frontline civilians to relocate, welcome, and support the resettlement of as many at-risk Afghans as possible.
Who is in charge of Afghanistan evacuation? ›
DOD is working with the State Department, partners, and allies to evacuate U.S. and Afghan citizens from Afghanistan.
How many Afghans did Canada evacuate? ›In coordination with international allies, the CAF, in close collaboration with a number of Government of Canada departments, successfully evacuated more than 3,700 people, including Canadian citizens and permanent residents, citizens of allied countries, Afghan nationals with close links to Canada and other vulnerable ...
How many people did the US evacuate from Kabul? ›The operation evacuated 124,000 people before concluding about midnight Aug. 31. It required U.S. commanders to strike an unusual security pact with the Taliban and rapidly deploy nearly 6,000 troops to assist a skeleton force of about 600 left behind under Vasely's command to protect U.S. Embassy personnel.