USAF C-17 Globemaster III bound for MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida, accidentally landed at the small commuter airport (TPF – Peter O’Knight airport) just south of downtown on Davis Islands, in Tampa.
‘Both runways have headings of 220 degrees. Both were situated on peninsulas jutting out into Tampa Bay,’ Cameron Beck, an aircraft and glider pilot, recalls on Quora.
‘The C-17, however, was used to comfortable 11000′+ runways. The small airport’s runway was 3405.′ Disaster loomed.
‘Nearby residents heard the scream of the C-17 desperately applying maximum thrust reverse. Looking out their windows, it seemed certain the mammoth sharkskin gray cargo plane would plunge off the end of the runway and into Tampa Bay.
‘But the pilot, demonstrating better landing skills than navigational, was able to bring his plane to a stop within ten feet of the runway’s end. Putting aside everything else, this pilot’s ability to bring the 200-ton C-17 to a safe landing on 3400′ of the runway was remarkable—especially considering he thought he had 11000′ of runway ahead.’
Here is the landing video shot by Ryan, one of the pilots trapped at the airport all day till this take off:
Here is the takeoff video:
The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas.
