On Jul. 20, a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III belonging to the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire AFB, New Jersey, mistakenly landed at Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, Florida.
The plane, with actual destination MacDill Air Force Base, was arriving from southwest Asia with 23 passengers and 19 crew members when it performed the unscheduled landing (for reasons under investigation) on the small airfield on Davis Island, whose runway is 3,580 feet long and 100 feet wide, aligned in the same direction as MacDill’s runway (that is 11,421 feet long and 151 feet wide).
Fortunately, the aircraft, thanks to its Short Landing capabilities, came to a stop about 10 feet from the end of the runway but the Peter O. Knight Airport had to be temporarily closed while the Air Force decided how to move the plane.
More from The Aviationist
An unloaded C-17 can take off from a runway 3,000 long and 90 feet wide (depending upon its fuel load and weather conditions).
H/T to Alert5 for the link to the video
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