![]() Lieutenant Colonel and C-17 Aircraft Commander Eric Kut, who authorized the mission to fly those people to safety, said they are “trained to handle that, to max perform that aircraft.”Ĭrew members of the C-17 that flew the 823 people to safety include Kut, Triola, Airman First Class Nicolas Baron, Captain Cory Jackson, First Lieutenant Mark Lawson, Staff Sergeant Derek Laurent and Senior Airman Richard Johnson. US diplomats sent cable warning of potential catastrophe in Afghanistan last month The Taliban declared an "amnesty" across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee the country. Taliban fighters patrol in Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. The previous record of people flown on a C-17 was 670 people that were flown out by the US Air Force after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in 2013. “While there are a range of standard configurations for C-17 passenger loads, this was a dynamic situation that required a dynamic solution,” Cronin said. It is always at the discretion of the aircraft commander to determine what they can transport at any given time, Cronin said. ![]() When the C-17 is being used to transport passengers, there are several configurations the plane’s crew can use to transport different numbers of people, ranging from 100 to 336 people at a time. When the pilot informed them how many people were on board, the response was “holy hell.” ![]() “Our 640 number was a little underestimated, we actually carried 823 out,” Technical Sergeant Justin Triola, one of the plane’s crew members, said.Ī radio transmission of the crew communicating with air traffic control highlights how extraordinary the flight was. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images) Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty ImagesĬhaos and confusion continue outside Kabul airport as people seek to flee Afghan people gather along a road as they wait to board a U S military aircraft to leave the country, at a military airport in Kabul on Augdays after Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan.
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