C-17 Globemaster III

Possibly one of my favorite aircraft in the USAF. There are so many awesome aircraft ranging from the Stratofortress, to the KC-135, to the brand new F-35 Fighter. The C-17 Globemaster III is so unique in that it has got so many modern features. Unlike many of the aircraft in the USAF's inventory, the C-17 has a full glass cockpit. This means, that it does not have countless round dials and gauges showing all the information needed to fly. Instead, all ofthe information given by those round dialed instruments are channeled into two digital displays, the Primary Flight Display, or PDF, and the Modular Flight Deck, or MFD. This greatly decongested the instrument panel and makes it much easier for the pilot's to find and interpret information.

Another awesome feature of the C-17 is its ability to move countless items from one place to another. It's cargo hold bay is huge and can fit almost any military equipment in whether it be the Army's huge M1A1 Abrams tank, Marine helicopters, or even up to 134 personnel.

Another unique feature of the C-17 is its ability to takeoff and land on extremely short runway distances. For instance, when completely empty with no cargo or fuel requirements, the aircraft can both land and takeoff of a 3000 ft runway. That is extremely short for such a large aircraft and is quite a significant feat. Naturally, that distance changes once fuel for certain distances and cargo weight is added. However with max fuel and max cargo weight, the takeoff and landing distance is not much over 6000 ft. Also an additional feature of the C-17 is its reverse thrusters giving it the ability to not only land in shorter distances but to also reverse.