'Sight to behold': U.S. Air Force cargo jet lands in Regina
CTV
Regina's International Airport hosted a true aerial behemoth late last week – courtesy of the United States Air Force (USAF).
Regina’s International Airport hosted a true aerial behemoth late last week – courtesy of the United States Air Force (USAF).
In the evening hours of Friday, June 14, a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III touched down at YQR – the rare sighting captured by eagle eyed aircraft enthusiasts.
The military transport had begun its journey hours earlier, halfway across the globe in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Weighing 265 tonnes fully loaded – the equivalent of more than three Boeing 737s at maximum capacity – the aircraft had stopped off at Saskatchewan’s capital for refueling.
“When I say large, I mean massive. This plane has a wingspan that's actually wider than our runways. Runways are 150 feet wide, and these wings are wider than that,” James Bogusz, president and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, explained to CTV News.
“We don't see planes of that size and weight [regularly]. So I imagine that local residents that night would have seen something very different in the skies.”
According to the U.S. Air Force, the C-17 can haul 102 troops including their gear, 36 stretchers as well as 54 ambulatory patients and attendants or 170,900 pounds of cargo.
