According to Air Force Reserve Command officials, the wings-level landing managed by the air crew of the C-5 that crashed Monday morning just short of a Dover AFB, Del., runway, saved the lives of all on board. Col Udo McGregor, commander of the 439th Operations Group at Westover ARB, Mass., said, “The survivors are survivors because [the pilot] put it on the ground wings level.” McGregor, who is a veteran pilot with more than 10,600 flying hours—7,000 in C-5s—added that the type of emergency the crew faced is one for which they have trained “hundreds of times in a simulator.” (Here is a list of survivors and a short history of the C-5.)
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
