ScottyDoo
9th Dec 2006, 21:44
WING Commander Linda Corbould proudly admits she is a big plane kind of woman. So she was thrilled when she became the first to skipper the largest aircraft ever to be operated by the Royal Australian Air Force, the C-17 Globemaster III.
"Bigger is better and the C-17 is clearly the biggest plane we have," she said after flying it to its new (????) RAAF base at Amberley, near Brisbane, last week.
The pioneering 43-year-old is the RAAF's most senior female pilot. She has just been given command of the hard-working No. 36 Squadron that will soon be home to four of the giant transporters.
Wing Commander Corbould went to the United States to pick up the first of the $550-million C-17s from the Boeing plant near Seattle and fly it back to Australia.
The Government spent $2.2 billion buying the four giants so the RAAF could transport the heavy Abrams tanks it bought second-hand from the US Army.
At 53 metres long and 16.8 metres tall, a C-17 is smaller than a jumbo jet but can carry four times more than the long-serving RAAF workhorse, the C-130 Hercules.
"It has the latest technology; it's full of electronic digital displays and automation rather than dials and switches of the old Hercules," Wing Commander Corbould said.
"It can fly into small, 900-metre airstrips just like the Hercs, which is valuable in our region. We can carry a full field hospital with water purifiers and generators for humanitarian aid or we can carry heavy military equipment."
The C-17 has a crew of three, can fly at 800kmh and has a range of 4400 kilometres. One C-17 can carry 75 tonnes of equipment or one Abrams tank or five Bushmaster vehicles or three Tiger helicopters. It can carry 102 paratroopers and all their equipment.
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said once the RAAF had the four C-17s, by 2008, it would no longer have to rely on leasing ageing Antonov aircraft or wait in queues for American heavy airlifters.
For Wing Commander Corbould, flying a C-17 is the fulfilment of a childhood dream. "When I was 11, I saw the aerobatic Roulette team flying in Tasmania and I knew then that I wanted to fly," she said.
She joined the RAAF in 1981 aged 18. Five years later the RAAF allowed women to become pilots and she grabbed the chance to fly transporters.
"We have one woman loadmaster and a female pilot due to finish training in 2008, so I hope to form an all-female crew on at least one flight."
She has flown into combat zones in Hercules many times, making the dangerous run into Baghdad at treetop level.
There are now 13 female pilots in the RAAF, but so far none is flying jet fighters. "There is a female navigator in F-111s, but it is only a matter of time before there is a woman jet fighter pilot," Wing Commander Corbould said. "I just like the big planes, so I stayed to be able to fly the biggest, the C-17."
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Planes??????? Only carpenters use planes.... someone give that bint an airfield run...:rolleyes: See what happens when you let the chicks in???
Not much of an incentive from the management, there: "I (only) stayed to be able to fly the biggest." Shouldn't she be trying to say something a little more positive in view of retention issues?
The C-17 has a crew of threeWhat, no load-monster???
Still, not necessarily a bad thing - at least you know it's safe to drink the coffee.
"Bigger is better and the C-17 is clearly the biggest plane we have," she said after flying it to its new (????) RAAF base at Amberley, near Brisbane, last week.
The pioneering 43-year-old is the RAAF's most senior female pilot. She has just been given command of the hard-working No. 36 Squadron that will soon be home to four of the giant transporters.
Wing Commander Corbould went to the United States to pick up the first of the $550-million C-17s from the Boeing plant near Seattle and fly it back to Australia.
The Government spent $2.2 billion buying the four giants so the RAAF could transport the heavy Abrams tanks it bought second-hand from the US Army.
At 53 metres long and 16.8 metres tall, a C-17 is smaller than a jumbo jet but can carry four times more than the long-serving RAAF workhorse, the C-130 Hercules.
"It has the latest technology; it's full of electronic digital displays and automation rather than dials and switches of the old Hercules," Wing Commander Corbould said.
"It can fly into small, 900-metre airstrips just like the Hercs, which is valuable in our region. We can carry a full field hospital with water purifiers and generators for humanitarian aid or we can carry heavy military equipment."
The C-17 has a crew of three, can fly at 800kmh and has a range of 4400 kilometres. One C-17 can carry 75 tonnes of equipment or one Abrams tank or five Bushmaster vehicles or three Tiger helicopters. It can carry 102 paratroopers and all their equipment.
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said once the RAAF had the four C-17s, by 2008, it would no longer have to rely on leasing ageing Antonov aircraft or wait in queues for American heavy airlifters.
For Wing Commander Corbould, flying a C-17 is the fulfilment of a childhood dream. "When I was 11, I saw the aerobatic Roulette team flying in Tasmania and I knew then that I wanted to fly," she said.
She joined the RAAF in 1981 aged 18. Five years later the RAAF allowed women to become pilots and she grabbed the chance to fly transporters.
"We have one woman loadmaster and a female pilot due to finish training in 2008, so I hope to form an all-female crew on at least one flight."
She has flown into combat zones in Hercules many times, making the dangerous run into Baghdad at treetop level.
There are now 13 female pilots in the RAAF, but so far none is flying jet fighters. "There is a female navigator in F-111s, but it is only a matter of time before there is a woman jet fighter pilot," Wing Commander Corbould said. "I just like the big planes, so I stayed to be able to fly the biggest, the C-17."
########################################
Planes??????? Only carpenters use planes.... someone give that bint an airfield run...:rolleyes: See what happens when you let the chicks in???
Not much of an incentive from the management, there: "I (only) stayed to be able to fly the biggest." Shouldn't she be trying to say something a little more positive in view of retention issues?
The C-17 has a crew of threeWhat, no load-monster???
Still, not necessarily a bad thing - at least you know it's safe to drink the coffee.