Exhibition mission over Sonoma County no ordinary flight for military cargo plane

There were moments during Thursday's media flight out of the Sonoma County airport aboard a U.S. Air Force military cargo plane that made it feel like just another commercial trip.

“Find yourself a seat,” instructed amiable loadmaster Tech. Sgt. Alison Kidder, “and buckle up.”

Those moments were brief, and infrequent.

After a lumbering start down the runway, the 174-foot behemoth accelerated so suddenly in the moments before takeoff, that this reporter fell sideways, almost into the lap of his neighbor, who could not have been more gracious about it.

This 20-year-old C-17 Globemaster III, The Spirit of Los Angeles, weighs 282,400 pounds empty, and was carrying 75,000 pounds of fuel - less than half a tank. The runway at Sonoma County airport is 6,000 feet long.

As Capt. Tyler Hamill explained during a cockpit interview somewhere over Gualala, he and Lt. Col. Ken Goode thought it best to get airborne sooner, rather than later.

“To be safer, we're using everything the engines are gonna give us,” he said. “It's a maximum takeoff effort, and that's what allowed us to jump out of there so quick.”

Part of Thursday's mission was to generate buzz for the Wings Over Wine Country air show, which is taking place this weekend at the Sonoma County airport, and is put on by the Pacific Coast Air Museum, celebrating its 30th birthday this year.

This event, which receives no government funding, and subsists on ticket sales, is described by its marketing director, Doug Clay, as a “little-big” air show, featuring elements of major shows - a multi-jet demonstration team, a high performance single jet routine - at a smaller airport that allows attendees to see the planes up close.

What's true for a rock concert or baseball game is true for an air show, he said. The closer a spectator can get, the better.

Also making an appearance at the show will be the Wings Of Blue skydivers, a group of cadets from the Air Force Academy, who filed off the C-17, cocksure and clean-cut in their matching blue polos and brown Harbaugh khakis, as the media contingent waited to board. There was no confusing the two groups.

After starting their day at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, the C-17's crew picked up the Wings of Blue daredevils in Colorado Springs before heading west over the Rockies to Santa Rosa.

Asked to list some of the places this plane has been and cargo it's hauled, aircraft mechanic Brian Hicks ticked off: “Special forces, Abrams tanks, Blackhawk helicopters, dolphins.”

Asked by a reporter if a dolphin was some kind of aircraft or boat, Hicks replied, “No, I mean dolphins that are trained by the Navy to smell bombs.”

After flying north to Point Arena, the pilots turned south, down the coast, then east just before reaching the Golden Gate Bridge. The plane seldom exceeded 3,000 feet in altitude. Indeed, while hurtling past 2,572-foot Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, we found ourselves looking up at its summit.

Before landing, loadmaster Kidder shared that the pilots would be treating us to a “tactical approach,” which meant a series of G-force inducing banked turns as we approached the runway for an exceptionally “hot” landing.

So dramatic was our deceleration, after touching down, that a white bottle of supplements, liberated from a purse or backpack, skittered the length of the fuselage.

“Please remain seated while we taxi,” said Kidder, who then added, “I have someone's B12 vitamins.”

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at 707-521-5214 or austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com.