Monocleman From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 137 posts, RR: 0 Posted (11 years 10 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 694 times:
When looking at the Air Force specs page for the C-5, there are two maximum takeoff weights - 769,000 pounds (peacetime), 840,000 pounds (wartime). Why can more be carried in wartime? Does it involve running engines over n1 or something along those lines or do you just flick a switch to increase preformance?
MikeN From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (11 years 10 months 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 555 times:
Will,
The C-5 is capable of taking off at the wartime max gross weight of 840,000 pounds with no problem (as long as the necessary field length is available). Actually, "I" feel the Galaxy is capable of taking off at over one million pounds gross weight! But, heavier gross weights put a lot of stress on the wings, therefore shortening their lifespan. The 769,000 pound GW limit is in place to ensure the wings aren't unecessarily overstressed. Also, the 769,000 pound limit ensures that the C-5 can takeoff from just about any "improved" airfield in the world. By "improved" I mean it must be made of concrete or something of the sort, otherwise the aircraft could sink at heavy gross weights.
The heaviest GW that I ever took off at was just under 800,000 pounds during the Gulf War. We had two M1-A1 Abrams tanks, 73 PAX, and a lot of fuel on board.
C17load From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (11 years 10 months 20 hours ago) and read 548 times:
Mike hit the nail on the head on this one. The "Peacetime" weight will always be significantly less the the war weight. This ensures that we are not putting too much stress on the wings as well as the engines. As expensive as planes are these days, we have to conserve them as long as we can.
Duce50boom From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (11 years 10 months 18 hours ago) and read 547 times:
speaking from a KC-10 point of view, our max takeoff weight is the same (590,000) wether peacetime or war. although we can no doubt carry alot more, our performance charts don't go too far past 590
Monocleman From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 137 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (11 years 9 months 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 534 times:
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