The US Air Force (USAF) and manufacturer Lockheed Martin have opened discussions with a number of cargo airlines concerning the possible placement of retiring military C-5A Galaxies (C-5) into the US Civil Reserve Air Fleet, said Mark Johnston, company director of government air mobility programs. The aircraft would normally be mothballed at the government's AMARC (Aircraft Maintenance And Regeneration Center) facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in New Mexico. "We just think there's a better plan for them than to put them in AMARC," said Johnston. Johnston added that the USAF plans to retire 22 C-5As have plenty of life left and that there was "nothing wrong with them". Johnston believes that there is great potential, considering the lack of options and capacity in the large ramp-loading freighter sector. He added that interested companies could upgrade the aircraft's engines and avionics to provide greater reliability and performance as well as driving down operational costs. Features The C-5 is one of the largest aircraft in the world and the largest airlifter in the Air Force inventory. The C-5 can carry more than any other airlifter. It has the ability to carry 36 standard pallets and up to 81 troops simultaneously. The Galaxy also carries all of the Army's air-transportable combat equipment, including such bulky items as its 74-ton mobile scissors bridge from the United States to any theater of combat on the globe. It can also carry outsize and oversize cargo intercontinental ranges and can take off or land in relatively short distances. Ground crews are able to load and off-load the C-5 simultaneously at the front and rear cargo openings, reducing cargo transfer times. Other features of the C-5 are: * Able to operate on runways 6,000 feet long (1,829 meters) * Five landing gear totaling 28 wheels to distribute the weight. * Nose and aft doors that open the full width and height of the cargo compartment to permit faster and easier loading. * A "kneeling" landing gear system that permits lowering of the parked aircraft so the cargo floor is at truck-bed height or to facilitate vehicle loading and unloading. * Full width drive-on ramps at each end for loading double rows of vehicles. * A system that records and analyzes information and detects malfunctions in more than 800 test points. The C-5 has the distinctive high T-tail, 25-degree wing sweep, and four TF39 turbofan engines mounted on pylons beneath the wings. These engines are rated at 43,000 pounds of thrust each, and weigh 7,900 pounds (3,555 kilograms) each. They have an air intake diameter of more than 8.5 feet (2.6 meters). Each engine pod is nearly 27 feet long (8.2 meters). The Galaxy has 12 internal wing tanks with a total capacity of 51,150 gallons (194,370 liters) of fuel - enough to fill 6 1/2 regular size railroad tank cars. A full fuel load weighs 332,500 pounds (150,820 kilograms). A C-5 with a cargo load of 270,000 pounds (122,472 kilograms) can fly 2,150 nautical miles, offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles away from the original destination - all without aerial refueling. With aerial refueling, the aircraft's range is limited only by crew endurance. (acn/avispecta)