C-5 Tail 306 Returns Home As Cargo-Load Trainer

  • Published
  • By Elsa Martinez
  • 433rd Airlift Wing
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Irreparable structural damage doomed C-5 Galaxy tail 68306 to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Ariz.  But in May of 2007, it returned to the 433rd Airlift Wing parking ramp.  Although the aircraft--originally  assigned to the Alamo Wing's initial C-5 fleet--will never fly missions or carry this country's leaders around the globe again, 306 is still working hard.

The cargo-load trainer, carved from the fusalage of aircraft 306, is now in use. It took many hands and nearly $1 million to pull off, according to Chief Master Sgt. Victor Abundis, chief loadmaster for the 356th Airlift Squadron.

"When the schoolhouse officials decided we needed a cargo-load trainer here, we got the money to fund the project," he recalled.  By collaborating with Air Mobility Command officials, who the need and utility for the CLT, the money came through.

The chief and 356th AS loadmasters Master Sgt. Scott Lynch and Tech. Sgts. William Rubeck and Jonathan Williams planned the old bird's return trip--before realizing how complex that task would become.

"It took more planning than we thought because we had no logistics to work from," said Chief Abundis.

"We had to schedule drivers, K-loaders, do all the load plans, and coordinate extra people from AMARC (Davis-Monthan's 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) and their aerial-port people," said Master Sgt. Lynch.

"What made it harder is that D-M had an exercise going on at that time," added Tech. Sgt. Rubeck.  "So we had an even harder time working around that too."

AMARC personnel prepared the CLT for its return to the wing.  "It took three separate missions to actually bring the CLT here," said Chief Abundis.

The first mission transported the equipment needed to tear apart the dormant dinosaur.  "We carried three pieces of fuselage, and AMARC needed couplers, pallets, chains, straps, and other devices to dear down 306 and prepare her.  It was harder because they had never had a C-5 on hand and had never needed such equipment before," said Master Sgt. Lynch.

"However, we also got lots of help from Wright Patterson's (AFB) Air Force Museum and their freight terminal, where we got a coupler and stacks of pallets to take to Randolph."

The next mission carried 80,000 pounds of cargo, ferrying parts of tail 306's forward and aft ramps and the ramp extensions.  But that also had its share of challenges.

"There was a different hurdle every day," Tech. Sgt. Rubeck recalled.  "A K-loader would break down or the roller tracks were too stiff.  At one point AMARC personel needed couplers to lock the pallets together for transport, so we had to fly some over."

The third and final mission brought the bird's actual cargo-hold compartment home to the Alamo Wing.  

When it first returned to Texas, the trainer-to-be was sent to  Randolph AFB under the auspices of the 12th Mission Support Group's Trainer Development Flight, who reassembled the components into what became the CLT.  But that re-assembly had had its own problems.

"Once 306 got there at Randolph, we had to transport our K-loaders and other equipment to them because they had no permanent material-handling equipment for a C-5 before," said Master Sgt. Lynch.

However, the initial $1 million outlay is far outstripped by the future savings in money and manpower the CLT will deliver ultimately.

"In the first year, the CLT will have paid for itself," remarked Chief Abundis.  "Besides the loadmasters' training, aerial porters and aeromedical personnel can also use the CLT for their own training.  That's a big savings in TDY and other training expenses."

More significantly, he added, the C-5 maintenance function will have one less C-5 needed for FTU training.

"Right now, maintenance needs to have a C-5 static dedicated to loadmaster and flight engineer training," said Chief Abundis.  "That's besides having C-5 statics for aerial porters, aeromedical, civil engineering, and now the schoolhouse. But with the CLT, that's one less airframe needed for training purposes."

Senior Master Sgt. Troy Pearson, section chief for 433rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, concurred.

"The CLT is huge for maintenance" said Sergeant Pearson. "It's almost like getting another airframe except that this one doesn't fly and comes at a fraction of the cost.

"The biggest benefit comes from not having put legacy aircraft through repetitive and unnecessary movements," said Sergeant Pearson.  "Simple things, like operating the visor and forward-loading ramp, means costly and time-consuming repairs that remove a fully mission-capable aircraft from mission demands."

"Adding the CLT means increased scheduling availability to those activities that need it for training,"  said Sergeant Pearson. "We'll save countless operating hours on key systems on the aging but still-agile C-5.  Everyone wins."

Finally, tail 306, reincarnated as the CLT, is a tangible legacy to the wing's new schoolhouse mission, concluded Chief Abundis.

"Tail 306 came back as a trainer that'll last for generations of C-5 aircrews, aerial ports and other 433rd personnel. ... That's worth a celebration," the chief said.