What if commercial cargo airlines took delivery of the Boeing C-17 like the Il-76 and the An-124?

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PM_ME_UR_S62B50@reddit

There was a rumor back in 2009 that FedEx was interested in acquiring some boneyard C-5A’s, paying the money to convert them into M’s and using them for civilian use. Never came to fruition obviously but I’m at the time it sounded like they were interested in it. I think the maintenance and fuel costs were what doomed it from ever being flown outside of the military.

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ChevTecGroup@reddit

Somehow the Ukrainians do it with the 124s and keep it profitable.

I could see a smaller cargo company buying a few just for large item transport. But not for regularly scheduled cargo flights

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BassetCock@reddit

I think the Ukrainians really just offer large and oddly sized cargo on demand. They don’t have hundreds of them doing scheduled turns every night from the sort facilities.

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ChevTecGroup@reddit

Could be. Id see them regularly enough at work that it seemed like they did some normal cargo loads. Maybe they did it to fill return trips and down time

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a_scientific_force@reddit

Then they would hemorrhage money. It's a fucking brick with wings and big enough engines to overcome the drag. And it cruises so. Fucking. Slow.

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Final-Carpenter-1591@reddit

For reference. It's about 100k knots slower than a 777 cruise speed. Both carry roughly 500k ibs mtow.

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FestivusFan@reddit

It’s about girth.

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Superdaneru@reddit

But then why is the military using them? If they're so shit then why isn't the military using A330s instead. I honestly can't think much of their benefits.

Genuinely curious. No sarcasm.

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Stunning_Produce_831@reddit

This. Fedex would spend more money using one of these instead of the vast amount of wide body aircraft they have. And there’s quite a few locations that only need a narrow body like a 757 to carry all the freight needed.

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phata-morgana@reddit

ANC-FAI they use a turbine conversion DC-3

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Stunning_Produce_831@reddit

ANC-FAI is a contracted ATR-72

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phata-morgana@reddit

FedEx or UPS? One of them is a daily Basler BT-67

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Stunning_Produce_831@reddit

FedEx. I work for FedEx, we don’t have any basler BT-67.

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phata-morgana@reddit

UPS then, contracted flights.

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CT-1065@reddit

i vaguely recall seeing an F-27's photo on one of their ATRs or C408s so maybe thats where the confusion is from

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No_Public_7677@reddit

High wing downward sloping wings are not something you want for commercial uses

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miRRacolix@reddit

Why is it used on the C-17?

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kaielias@reddit

I’m curious about the physics of those two things

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Speedbird14@reddit

Fuel consumption

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OkMech@reddit

But air dropped packages /S

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Maximus_supreme@reddit

Fed-Ex C-17 but the packages just end up even more dented and likely completely obliterated since they're now dropped from a plane instead of being chucked at your front porch

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numbnerve@reddit

not if each package get its own little paper parachute weeee🪂

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Tommy84@reddit

But you can get an M551 Sheridan tank next day via Amazon Air Drop™ delivery.

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Adviderisj@reddit

Somehow they might be less bruised

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cosp85classic@reddit

Boeing and the commercial companies tried to get this approved back in the 2003-2005 timeframe. Congress said no because of all the classified capabilities in the avionics systems. Congress and the DoD have the C-17 classified as a weapon system, so there was no wiggle room in the discussion.

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MaleficentCoconut594@reddit

I’m a c-17 loadmaster

The c-17 was designed to move everything under the sun. As such, it’s just not economical to ship just packages with it. We burn fuel like it’s going out of style. Until FedEx/UPS start shipping vehicles on the regular, it makes less than zero sense to fly a c-17

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ElectricalChaos@reddit

This question came up in my cargo management class, and the TLDR is it boils down to operating costs. Sure you got the payload capacity, but a 747-8F can do double that with better fuel consumption. The only thing the Globemaster has going for it is that it can haul outsized cargo, but since demand in that market is limited and better served by existing options, it's just not economically viable to fly and keep crews current on it. For the oddball thing that needs the capabilities the C-17 can offer, it's cheaper to just work up a contract with the Air Force to do the move.

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SubstantialAbility17@reddit

Military isn’t too concerned with fuel economy or emissions. Publicly traded companies are.

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BillWilberforce@reddit

They are, mainly as it increases range . As well as the logistic problems of getting fuel to remote air bases, such as Bagram. Where the only way to get fuel in quantity was to truck it in via Pakistan. With the route being a major target for the Taliban.

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abb82898@reddit

Did you use to sell plane stickers on Etsy? I used to buy some from someone on there (can’t remember the shop name) that looked just like this. I had a couple UPS planes and a short

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That_Public_4620@reddit (OP)

No, I drew those C-17s myself with the help of one of Norrebo’s insanely helpful aircraft templates.

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