Video: C-17 Globemaster III tactical airlifter lands at the wrong airport in Florida

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.

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

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.