CHARLESTON AFB, S.C. –
The newest C-17 to come off the production line at Boeing's Long Beach plant landed here with the commander of the Air Force Reserve Command at the stick Oct. 28.
Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, AFRC commander, accompanied by an all-Reserve crew from the 317th Airlift Squadron, presented a ceremonial key to Col. Steven Chapman, 315th Airlift Wing commander, on the flightline here, commemorating the Air Force's 190th Globemaster III and Charleston's 58th.
"It is a brand new, off-the-line airplane," said General Stenner. "It flies great."
The jet, which is the 209th C-17 built to date, had just under six hours flight time before it began its flight to Charleston, nearly doubling it's hours on its first Air Force flight. Hours, however, will soon grow as this jet becomes operational.
"Every 90 seconds there is a mobility plane taking off," General Stenner told Boeing employees before leaving Long Beach. "We do this 365 days a year."
Boeing invited nearly two dozen of its employees to witness the C-17 transfer to Air Force hands. All of the employees were reservists or retired reservists.
Before passing the general a ceremonial key and an American flag, Jean Chamberlin, Boeing vice president and general manager for Global Mobility Systems told General Stenner how important the C-17 and her company's relationship with the Air Force is.
"We are very proud that no matter what mission you're on, you are on the world's best airlifter, the C-17 Globemaster III," said Mrs. Chamberlin. "C-17s are making a difference, saving lives everyday - we are proud to be a part of this team with you."
What does the newest airlifter bring to the fight?
"Since the inception of the C-17, we've continued to develop; this represents what we've learned over the last 15 years," said Lt. Col. Jeff Meyers, 315th Operations Group chief of Standardization and Evaluation.
Colonel Meyers said the new plane has added an additional lighting system, safety modifications, avionic upgrades that meet all current and future requirements for increased military capabilities, and overall, utilizes some valued civilian technology.
This $205 million jet is part of block 17. Each block signifies software upgrades performed on the aircraft. It takes approximately 140,000 unit man-hours across 194 days to build one, according to Joseph Brown, a Boeing Foreign Object Debris and Housekeeping administrator.
Master Sgt. Michael Lang, 317 AS loadmaster who was aboard the new jet for its welcome to Charleston AFB, spent eight years as a maintainer and the last seven years as a loadmaster. He and the rest of the crew received a tour of Boeing's 1.1 million square foot facility where C-17s are built.
"It was really neat to see where they've been building the C-17 the last 15 years," said Sergeant Lang. "When I arrived at Charleston AFB there were six C-17s on the line. I've seen jets from blocks six to 17, which is 11 different software upgrades."
When asked what he thought about the jet, he simply said, "It's clean."
As the last 15 years have shown, it won't be clean for long.