C-5 first flight 50 years ago tomorrow

I feel like we achieved so much in terms of technological progress up until the late 70's. All these great planes(military and civilian) came from the era before 1980 when I was born. The F117, the F111, the Tomcat, the C5, U2, the space shuttle, the Cessna 172, the list goes on. Ive seen the C5 only once in PSP when Bush 2 was in office visiting socal back in the day.

I'm wondering what stopped all this progress.
 
There's only so much technology you can squeeze out of a single UFO crash near Roswell dating back to 1947. We need to recover something made since then.

BWAHAHAHA ! ! !
Dude at this point if that UFO crap turned out to be real I'd be more interested in how to make the spaceship turn on again and get the hell off of earth.
 
The best times of my life we’re spent flying around the world on the C5. A highlight of my young life was sitting right seat at 19 one flight. I was only a crew chief but I owe most of what I know from those pilots that look me under their wing and mentored me at a young age.
 
I'm usually pretty good at figuring out how mechanical things work by just looking at them. I've tried to look at the landing gear on a C-5 close up on at least three different occasions and I still have no idea how all of that mumbo jumbo extends and retracts. I think it's a beautiful airplane, form follows function.
 
I'm usually pretty good at figuring out how mechanical things work by just looking at them. I've tried to look at the landing gear on a C-5 close up on at least three different occasions and I still have no idea how all of that mumbo jumbo extends and retracts. I think it's a beautiful airplane, form follows function.

@knot4u

It is a unique system for sure.





If you copy and paste this into your search bar and hit enter, the manual comes up in a PDF.
c-5 handbook - USAF SIG

Then peruse down to:
1C-5A-2-10 / Landing Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Landing Gear Extension and Retraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
Main Landing Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-9
Nose Landing Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-27
 
Last edited:
@knot4u

It is a unique system for sure.





If you put this into your search bar and hit enter, the manual comes up in a PDF.
c-5 handbook - USAF SIG

Then peruse over to:
1C-5A-2-10 / Landing Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Landing Gear Extension and Retraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
Main Landing Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-9
Nose Landing Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-27
No. No, I say it twice because I'm too old to even want to try to troubleshoot something that has the gear extend 90 degrees off heading. Nope. Nope.
 
I feel like we achieved so much in terms of technological progress up until the late 70's. All these great planes(military and civilian) came from the era before 1980 when I was born. The F117, the F111, the Tomcat, the C5, U2, the space shuttle, the Cessna 172, the list goes on. Ive seen the C5 only once in PSP when Bush 2 was in office visiting socal back in the day.

I'm wondering what stopped all this progress.

The progress is still happening. It is just more subtle. Think technological progress in terms of avionics and/or weapon systems rather than pure performance, at least with respect to military hardware. It's more boring from an outside perspective, and perhaps seems like stagnation, but the things we are flying today are light years ahead of the jets that guys took to war in 1991. That being said, when it comes to space vehicles, I do wonder what will be next. Granted the STS was a pretty niche system, but it was also the single boldest step ever made in aerospace technology, and probably still stands as the most technologically advanced flying vehicle ever built.
 
The progress is still happening. It is just more subtle. Think technological progress in terms of avionics and/or weapon systems rather than pure performance, at least with respect to military hardware. It's more boring from an outside perspective, and perhaps seems like stagnation, but the things we are flying today are light years ahead of the jets that guys took to war in 1991. That being said, when it comes to space vehicles, I do wonder what will be next. Granted the STS was a pretty niche system, but it was also the single boldest step ever made in aerospace technology, and probably still stands as the most technologically advanced flying vehicle ever built.
I’m curious how they are light years ahead. Can you give some examples so I can better understand the new capabilities these newer jets have that the old ones didn’t. Also, do enhancement in satellite technology contributed to the capabilities of these aircraft?
 
As I understand it, the re-engined C-5M has a very much improved in-service rate over the A/B models. Impressive airplane indeed. Apart from being stuffed as pax in the upper-aft pax compartment.

C-5A model parked on our ramp...

image.jpeg
 
As I understand it, the re-engined C-5M has a very much improved in-service rate over the A/B models. Impressive airplane indeed. Apart from being stuffed as pax in the upper-aft pax compartment.

C-5A model parked on our ramp...

View attachment 43884

I read about a year ago that the C-5M still required about eight hours of maintenance for every hour of flight, which would be the same as its C-5A predecessor. But, who knows?
 
I read about a year ago that the C-5M still required about eight hours of maintenance for every hour of flight, which would be the same as its C-5A predecessor. But, who knows?

Interesting. That may very well be right, because though the M may have new engines, the rest of the plane (besides the cockpit/avionics) is still an old C-5.
 
One of my most memorable trips was loading up our 6 BlackHawks then going upstairs for the flight! This plane is a beast, I've always loved this thing!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: JLF
Back
Top