MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The transition continues at the Martinsburg-based 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard. The unit is transitioning aircraft from the old C-5 to the more modern C-17.
The change will require retraining base wide as the new airplanes come in about one a week for several weeks.
“We have maintenance training that is ongoing. The first three months will be on direct training here in Martinsburg,” said Colonel Shaun Perkowski. “That will go on through the end of the year and around the first of January we’ll start flying them.”
Maintenance crews are learning the new systems. Perkowski said the C-17’s will offer a new challenge to maintenance crews. The old C-5’s included a great deal of sheet metal work, where the new C-17 with modern design is more made of composites and modern age materials. The electronic systems are also more advanced, but in many ways less complicated. Perkowski said they are built in such a way they are “plug and play” in many ways and require fewer “moving parts.”
There’s a learning curve for those who will fly the aircraft. The flight crews will no longer include the position of flight engineer. Instead its two pilots and a loadmaster.
“All of our pilots here qualified in the C-5 will have to qualify in the C-17. That entails about three to five months of training,” said Perkowski. “Same thing for our loadmasters who are training, approximately three to four months of training.”
Many of those serving as flight engineers are training to become loadmasters although some are finding themselves without a job.
“Total number for the base is roughly 200 positions base wide,” said Perkowski. “If you look at full-time positions and full-time job losses, we’re hovering in the 40 range right now.”
The C-17 will not carry the amount of cargo or larger items like its predecessor, but Perkowski said they have a distinct mission to move personnel and equipment to the front lines with the ability to land in remote Air Force base.