Capt. Pamela A. Melroy and Capt. John B. Norton, along with McDonnell Douglas pilots William R. Casey and Charles N. Walls, set a number of recognized altitude records with payload (for two different subclasses of jet aircraft) in a C-17A at Edwards AFB, Calif. A class record for greatest load (133,422 pounds) carried to 6,600 feet is also set on the flight.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
