• Aircraft:

  Boeing C-17A Globemaster III

• Reg: 00-0184 photos
• Serial #:

  P-84

• Airline: United States - US Air Force (USAF)
• Photo Date: Feb 05, 2021
• Uploaded: Feb 12, 2021
• Oporto Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport - LPPR, Portugal

[Full HD/1920px] This is one of those pictures which have quite a story behind! It was 08:00am and I was comfortably sleeping in my bed, while I received a call from one of those friends who I know they would just call when it’s really important or urgent… and so that was. “There is an USAF C-17 diverting to Porto, just get out of your bed and rush!”… and so I did! I was really tired and I would be on duty some hours later on that day, but this was great enough not to miss… I was driving on the highway as I made the first eye-contact with the beast, as it was on long final for runway 35 over Porto… what a sight! I was parking my car at 08:53, the exact same minute it was touching down. The light was not the best at all, that would be a tough morning for proper photos as it was too cloudy. Made my way to stand W28, where REACH 556 was just about to be parked. Some minutes later I was able to approach the aircraft, where I met a wonderful Crew who invited me to get onboard. The best part was when I could visit the cockpit, where I was authorized to take some pictures, whilst having a nice chat with Captain. I was told the Crew was performing a flight from Naval Air Station Sigonella (NSY/LICZ) to Naval Station Rota (ROZ/LERT) but had to divert due to severe thunderstorms in the vicinity of LERT. As all the airports and bases around were also experiencing rough weather, I was lucky enough to welcome this wonderful Crew of 911th Airlift Wing (based in Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station) in my home airport, where the weather was rather fair! This was just the 4th C-17A visiting Porto, the other three visits happened in 2015. The first two were Royal Air Force ZZ175 and ZZ178 (on May 11th and June 14th respectively) and the third one was 02 operated by NATO - Strategic Airlift Capability, on November 06th. After assisting the Crew during the refueling process and as if I am not already lucky enough, got a short-lived sunny spell (no more than 2-3 minutes), which allowed me to take a clean shot with proper contrast of this masterpiece. Flight RCH556 resumed their journey across the pond at 12:55pm, towards Naval Station Norfolk (NGU/KNGU).

Photographer

Aircraft

Backtracking Rwy 30 to depart for the short hop to Leuchars

Ian Howat 00-0184

4,645 2 0 Boeing C-17A Globemaster III

Claus Seifert 00-0184

4,803 1 0 Boeing C-17A Globemaster III

simon mortimer 00-0184

1,175 2 0 Boeing C-17A Globemaster III

Photo location

Pedro Costa 9H-VUM

124 1 0 Boeing 737-8-200 MAX

[Full HD/1920px] SAT9001 is seen on short final runway 35 to perform a short stop for refuelling between Norwich (NWI/EGSH) and its homebase, Ponta Delgada (PDL/LPPD) after getting a fresh paint job

Carlos Miguel Seabra CS-TRB

2,106 19 0 Bombardier Dash 8-Q202

João Lopes OE-LQD

160 1 0 Airbus A319-111

Photographer

[Full HD/1920px] Rolling for departure on runway 34

Carlos Miguel Seabra EC-ZLK

193 0 0 TL Ultralight TL-2000 Sting Carbon RG

[Full HD/1920px] Rolling back to the hangar after a quick engine test, just a few seconds before the sunlight was completely gone for the day

Carlos Miguel Seabra EC-ZNF

232 3 0 Avid Flyer STOL

[Full HD/1920px] Resting in its hangar in Cerval

Carlos Miguel Seabra D-EUAM

182 0 0 Piper PA-28-181 Archer III