Overloaded but airborne: Incredible photo
shows 640 Afghans on a US C-17
cargo jet - designed to carry 150
- after they ran on before soldiers
could close ramp and pilot
decided to take off from Kabul and
save them all
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Jennifer Smith
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
8/16/2021 9:04:32 PM
The first photos have emerged of crammed US cargo jets with hundreds of terrified Afghan refugees on board after they ran onto the aircraft before military personnel could close ramps on them on Sunday in their escape of the Taliban. The US has so far flown at least two C-17 cargo jets out of Kabul and more flights are expected throughout Monday night and later this week despite chaos on the ground on Monday which involved eight people dying and flights being halted. On Sunday, one of the first flights out was the US Air Force C-17 numbered RCH 871, which flew from Kabul to Qatar.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
TrueBlueWfan 8/16/2021 9:11:42 PM (No. 881812)
How soon before this pilot is reprimanded or worse? It doesn't seem very safe, but it was a heckuvalot safer than being on the tarmac.
43 people like this.
C-17s are incredible aircraft. We used to watch them power climb out of the St. Louis area; they seem almost as nimble as a fighter at times.
20 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
bighambone 8/16/2021 9:40:47 PM (No. 881832)
The pilot is the aircraft commander and he or she had to make a split second decision. The way things are going with the Biden crew if he or she does not fit into a leftist and socialist Democrat identity politics slot, and turns out to be a White male, he might face a court martial.
It is very dangerous for US aircraft flying near that Airport now, as who knows was kind of ground to air missiles the likes of China or Pakistan may have given the Taliban, or what anti-aircraft artillery that the Taliban will position near the airport. If anyone gets out of that Airport from now on it will be because the Taliban let them go. But why would the Taliban do that as it is being reported that the Taliban is seeking out Afghans who worked with the USA and is executing them?
30 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
MrDeplorable 8/16/2021 9:40:53 PM (No. 881833)
Looks to me like the vast majority of Afghans in that airplane cargo hold are males of military age, which means many abandoned mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives and daughters. Par for the course in a society in which women are not second-class citzens but no-class citizens.
87 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
harleynyc 8/16/2021 9:45:24 PM (No. 881835)
How many are sleeper cells ? Shoot it down. It's a security risk.
10 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
marbles 8/16/2021 9:52:40 PM (No. 881841)
What # 4 said.
17 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Rubinski 8/16/2021 9:53:30 PM (No. 881842)
One terrorist slipping in with a hand grenade and this story would have had a completely different ending.
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
subal 8/16/2021 10:04:58 PM (No. 881847)
At 10k ft, reopen the ramp and climb!
8 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Boliver 8/16/2021 10:22:00 PM (No. 881862)
Today the pilots ill be hailed as heroes, and tomorrow they will be drummed out of the 'woke' military for refusing the vaccine.
28 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 8/16/2021 10:30:30 PM (No. 881868)
Probably at least a 3 hour flight to Qatar. I wonder if there was at least 1 restroom.
8 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
earlybird 8/16/2021 10:39:36 PM (No. 881876)
I heard this afternoon that they tied them down any way that they could as they weren’t in seat belts...
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
LadyHen 8/16/2021 10:41:46 PM (No. 881880)
And where will all those able bodies Muslim men aged 16-45 end up? What a perfect place to hide terrorist cells. I hold out no hope they will be vetted in anyway.
17 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 8/16/2021 10:42:59 PM (No. 881882)
How long before the Taliban shoot down one of our planes leaving Kabul? All Biden will do is make some noise. He's made it clear he will not fight a war. The Taliban can do whatever they want with impunity.
19 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Newtsche 8/16/2021 11:27:24 PM (No. 881901)
Could be THE iconic picture of this debacle.
22 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 8/16/2021 11:32:43 PM (No. 881906)
Oh great... nothing like we lose a C-17 and all crew because a radical muslim vest bomber figures out to simply act like a refugee and go kaboom in mid air. This pilot should be court-martialed and kicked out of the service.
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
LonestarM3 8/16/2021 11:35:43 PM (No. 881907)
I don't know the details, but the AC of that C-17 has my undying respect. The Aircraft Commander may get a s**tload of flack from the newly "woke" brass, but whatever happens, he (or possibly she?) will have the satisfaction of knowing that when this or her 10 seconds to decide came character and honor prevailed.
33 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Birddog 8/16/2021 11:42:42 PM (No. 881910)
The record set for most passengers on a single airplane flight was 1991..1086 Ethiopian Jew refugees were evacuated upon a 747 and flown to safety in Jerusalem...it landed however with 1088, 2 babies were born during the flight.
It was one of several flights that day, over 14,000 in total evacuated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Solomon
18 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
DARling 8/16/2021 11:42:57 PM (No. 881911)
More unvetted Muslim immigrants? That airport should have been secured before the planes were boarded. No one should be allowed to storm an American military aircraft.
14 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
stablemoney 8/16/2021 11:56:56 PM (No. 881917)
Sure? They just happened to open the cargo plane and 650 Afghans ran on, while American troops stood around. All just happened by accident. Really?
11 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Birddog 8/16/2021 11:58:26 PM (No. 881918)
At Dunkirk...On the first day only 7,669 Allied soldiers were evacuated, but by the end of the eighth day, 338,226 had been rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 vessels.
The BEF lost 68,000 soldiers and had to abandon nearly all of its tanks, vehicles, and equipment.
Churchill then reminded the country that "we must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations."
16 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
TXknitter 8/17/2021 12:01:45 AM (No. 881921)
Yes #6, just the kind of “good men” we want over here. NOT.
12 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
DVC 8/17/2021 12:30:48 AM (No. 881939)
Unless the average Afghani weighs more than 250 lbs, or they had a huge fuel load, this seems to be pretty easily within the lifting capability of the C-17.
Drop them in a Muslim country. We don't need any more.
15 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
texaspast 8/17/2021 12:39:12 AM (No. 881947)
The maximum payload capacity of a C17 is 170,900 pounds. Way more than enough to safely transport 640 scrawny Afghans.
8 people like this.
Are they the able bodied natives who would not fight for their own country after 20 years of American taxpayers supporting them ?
11 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 8/17/2021 5:42:06 AM (No. 882063)
Case of beer for that pilot.
10 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
mifla 8/17/2021 6:18:32 AM (No. 882079)
Kudos to the pilot for making the right decision. As others have stated, the plane left because the Taliban let it leave.
10 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
cny 8/17/2021 7:08:11 AM (No. 882122)
The majority were men, but there are women and children in that picture.
3 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
Strike3 8/17/2021 8:25:44 AM (No. 882198)
It would have been a very different story if the plane hadn't made it out of there.
2 people like this.
The pilot is a hero...the passengers victims of a failed administration....and fool-in-chief is on vacation.....especially his brain
13 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
ConCynic 8/17/2021 9:05:46 AM (No. 882262)
Refugees?!? Nope, 6th century "ambassadors" importing their culture into Western Civ. They'll think nothing of raping your daughters and sisters. Why are we intent on committing suicide?
2 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
usawatcher 8/17/2021 9:34:31 AM (No. 882301)
#4 is correct. Yet another example of the cowardice of the Afgani male. Having had family members do tours in that sh**hole they all said the men were for the most part cowards and many were on the take. The few that did fight were absolutely ruthless...there just weren't enough of them.
3 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
Zigrid 8/17/2021 10:33:34 AM (No. 882396)
God help General milk toast Milley if he reprimands this pilot for taking off...WE will never forget.....
2 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
Blooming 8/17/2021 10:33:55 AM (No. 882398)
This pilot was willing to make that choice. It was an empty cargo plane, it's a work horse . He made a decision to save lives, something that Joe Biden never gave a thought. It made it off the ground with human lives, the most precious cargo of all.
4 people like this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
TLCary 8/17/2021 10:34:19 AM (No. 882399)
#3 China? Pakistan? Biden's plan had the US Military leave the Taliban all the armaments they could ever dream of. Why would they want Chinese junk when Biden gave them high-quality US weapons? Remember when aiding and abetting the enemy was called "treason" and punishable by death? Good ol' days...
2 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
pensom2 8/17/2021 10:46:54 AM (No. 882423)
The majority of the Afghans who served as interpreters for our American troops were single young men. Their mothers are at much smaller risk of being killed by the Taliban. Few of their mothers could have climbed the airport walls or run up to the plane's loading ramp as these did. I rather doubt the Taliban was so well organized as to have suicide bombers in the crowd at the airport, though that becomes an increasing risk as each day passes.
General Thoroughly Stupid Milley should have planned for this and had better organization and ability to vet our Afghan aides and allies weeks ago. He was too busy obsessing over CRT in the military, kissing up to Biden's incompetent, leftist, and BLM-sympathizing Secretary of Defense. I loathe them both.
5 people like this.
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