I Flew a C5 Galaxy

Okay, I didn't fly an actual C5 Galaxy, but I came as close to the real thing as possible. Andrew is a Crew Chief on the C5 for the Air National Guard. While giving us a tour of the base he was able to get us into the C5 simulator. It is a full motion, color visual, level D simulator, the most realistic type. It's very similar to the simulator I did my Canadair Regional Jet training in and in which every six months I have to do a proficiency check. I do have a little sim experience. We just happened to visit the sim during some down time so the sim instructor offered to fire it up for us.

Note: All photo's are courtesy of airliners.net with the original photographer's name in the footer bar. You can see more C5 photos here.

Lockheed C5 Galaxy

A little background for the non-aviation folk out there. The Lockheed C5 Galaxy is the largest aircraft in the United States Air Force inventory, it is larger than a Boeing 747-400. The biggest version of the Canadair Regional Jet (the CRJ900 or 90 seat CRJ) that I fly has a max takeoff weight of 84,500lbs, the C5 has a max takeoff weight of 840,000lbs, roughly 10 times heavier. The CRJ900 is 119 feet long, 25 feet tall, with a wingspan of 81 feet. The C5 is 247 feet long, a staggering 65 feet tall, with a wingspan of 223 feet. Mounted on those wings are four General Electric TF-39 high bypass turbojet engines producing 43,000lbs of thrust each for a total of 172,000lbs of thrust! The CRJ900 has 2 engines producing a mere 13,000lbs of thrust each in comparison. To fuel those engines the C5 can hold over 51,000 gallons of fuel in 12 tanks! It's landing gear is comprised of 28 wheels and features a kneeling feature that lowers entire aircraft so the cargo floor is about as high as a pickup truck bed. It has nose and tail cargo doors so you can literally drive a wide-load Mac truck or 2 rows of vehicles side-by-side through the aircraft. I guess my point in all this is that the C5 is ridiculously bigger than the plane I fly and I was stoked to have a shot at flying one even if it was in a sim.

Canadair Regional Jet

vs C5 Galaxy

28 Wheels

Front and Rear Cargo Doors

I think every pilot has, at times, wondered how they would do if put in an aircraft vastly different than what they are used to without prior training. Once we were all inside the sim, it came to life like something out of a SciFi movie. The catwalk lifted away behind us as the giant box awakened and raised into the air on a series of giant hydraulic actuators. The inside was an exact representation of a real C5 flight deck. Behind the controls, instruments, and glowing panel lights and outside the windshield was a cloudy blue sky and a 250 degree wrap around view of the Air National Guard ramp.

C5 From Above

The instructor invited me to sit in the Captain's seat and as I sat down I quickly figured out the five point harness and seat controls. Once in position I felt oddly at home. Everyone else took seats at various stations on the flight deck. The C5's systems are so complicated that it takes 2 flight engineers to monitor and manage them. The sim instructor compared it to being the conductor of an orchestra. The C5 flight deck is completely different from the all glass display of the CRJ. All glass means the flight, navigation, and systems instruments are displayed on a series of screens similar to computer monitors while the C5 has analog "steam" gauges along with different analog tape displays for airspeed and altitude. There didn't seem to be any organization of the instruments and the systems. Even the basic six pack was disrupted by the different sized tape displays. The design reminded me of the age of the C5, which first flew in 1968. It also gave me a humbling respect for all of the past and present C5 pilots who stared at those instruments. It wasn't the modern, sterilized, ergonomically engineered, oversimplified automated cockpit that I'm used to. It was the real deal, an old school jet cockpit, more like a steam engine than a jet. I couldn't help but think how many aviation freaks would kill to be sitting in my seat as the instructor configured the C5 into a pre-takeoff condition.

CRJ's Glass Flight Deck

C5 Flight Deck

(note the airspeed and altitude tapes on

either side of the artificial horizon)

The instructor relocated us to runway 28R at San Francisco International Airport. I've landed on this runway 100's of times and new the area well. After a brief familiarization of the controls and the flight deck layout I asked for some basic speed, pitch, and power settings for takeoff. It was a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time, but I wanted to do more than just play around in the sim. I wanted to fly it like it was my Airline Transport Rating checkride.

C5 Takeoff

He cleared me for take off and I pushed all 4 thrust levers forward. The flight deck is so wide the pilot and co-pilot both have their own thrust levers! The sim rumbled as the virtual engines spooled up. I released the breaks and I was surprised at how fast we accelerated to rotation speed. At rotation speed the big beast lifted off the ground with ease. Rotation was easy and didn't need much trim. With a positive rate of climb I commanded "Gear Up". I was amazed at how nimble and maneuverable it felt in the air, it was perfectly aerodynamically balanced. It took less effort to pitch and roll than the 30 seat turbo-prop I flew before the CRJ. After a tour around the bay we headed back to the airport for some pattern work. The triple analog tape displays for airspeed and altitude took a little getting used to, but soon I felt right at home. I set up a right traffic pattern for the visual approach to 28R, no different than being at work! The cockpit sits about 25 feet higher than I'm used to, so I was a little nervous about the flare, but like everything else about the C5 it was much easier than I thought. Throughout the approach the pitch attitude is nose high, so I just followed my instructor's advice and when the 1000 foot markers disappeared under the nose I eased into my flare. I've had worse landings in the CRJ!

C5 Landing Pitch Attitude

After a couple touch and go's, we moved on to harder skills. Aerial refueling to be exact. It was 100 times harder than I imagined. Although not as big as the C5, the KC135 aerial tanker is huge in its own right. The dynamics of two extremely large aircraft flying so close together at 30,000 feet are tremendous. The target refueling speed is 252 knots. As you line up on the tanker you approach from behind and below. There is a yellow line painted on the underside of the KC135 along with command lights near the nose that direct you forward, back, up and down. As you approach the KC-135 its wake turbulence pitches the C5 down and you have to work very hard to maintain your altitude and airspeed to fly into the "slot". It's very similar to a decreasing performance wind shear. You add power and pitch up to maintain formation and then once your through the wake you have to immediately lower the nose and reduce power. If your not on top of your corrections you'll be slingshot forward and up into the tanker. Once in the slot and the tanker boom operator does the rest. Your job is to hold your position in the slot. It took me 2 tries to make it through the wake and get into the slot. Once I was in the slot I spent my time making small corrections based on the light commands so the boom operator could connect. I found it was easiest to scan between the KC-135's inboard engines and antennas on it's underside to judge my position. I got within about 2 feet of the boom, but didn't connect before time ran out (the sim gives you a limited amount of time to connect).

C5 Aerial Refueling Port

KC135 Underside

(note the yellow line and light bars just behind the nose wheel)

C5 with Aerial Refueling Boom Connected

I didn't want to hog all the fun so Jo and Andrew both had a turn. I talked Jo through straight and level flight before a couple 360's, it reminded me of my flight instructing days. She did great for never flying anything before. Then Andrew took a turn, he got the hang of it quick and did a couple landings back as SFO. After the sim Andrew took us over to the ramp and gave us a walk through of a real C5A. It was a surreal experience and I am very grateful to Andrew and the folks at the Air National Guard for the experience.