McChord to Hill & return

Author Message   William Standage Senior Member Username: Charlie13 Post Number: 1014 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 75.172.86.245 Posted on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 - 06:32 pm:    Don't know. Both legs of my flight were either before the Fairchild stop, or after. I avoided Fairchild completely on this trip. One rumor I've heard is that on some drill weekends, both an AF Reserve flight (the one I was on), and a Air Guard flight makes a shuttle run. I think the Guard shuttle when it runs, only goes between Fairchild and McChord, whereas the Reserve flight adds the UT stop. The reserves fly a C17 and the guard fly a KC135. One mission shuts down, and one doesn't. Sorry, I can't be more specific. In the past, when I've done this run, I've done an engines running off, and on load with the C17. Lately, it's has always been with engines off. One that was a bit different at Hill for the Sunday return, was that crew let down the rear ramp and all pax hand carried their own luggage onboard using the rear ramp. We deposited the bags on the the rear ramp where the loadmaster then strapped them in. When we arrived home to McChord thats also how we deplanned. We walked down the rear ramp picking up our own bags enroute. All 40 something passengers had to carry their own bags to a single 45 passenger bus and cram it all in to make the short trip back to the terminal (which was closed). Two O6's were aboard, and they slepped bags just like everyone else. No special favors were offered to the brass. Everyone seemed happy to get home smoothly.   John R Garrison Senior Member Username: Majorg Post Number: 2423 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 208.81.157.86 Posted on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 - 02:52 pm:    Bill: Thanks for taking the time for writing up your adventure and sharing it with us. One question that we constantly get different answers for: Do they shut the engines down at Fairchild and did they permit Spats (not duty Pax) to get on/off? Happy Travels, John   William Standage Senior Member Username: Charlie13 Post Number: 1013 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 75.172.80.245 Posted on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 - 03:17 am:    Last Friday afternoon my wife and I caught the twice monthly reserve rotator from McChord to Hill AFB. The acft was a C17 equipped with 169 seats (125 palletized airline seats down the middle)! Our total passenger compliment from McChord was 42, including 30 something JROTC cadets. The remaining pax were Cat3-6, and everyone got off at Hill where a large group of reservists were waiting to board the continuing flight to Fairchild and McChord. While in Utah we visited with my daughter and our grandkids. We caught a day of early Spring skiing at Brighton, and once again tempted fate without breaking anything! We returned to Hill AFB Sunday eveing to catch the return C17 rotator home to McChord. The returning acft was a McChord C17 making a reverse shuttle (McChord, Fairchild, Hill, McChord). All passengers from Hill, were pretty much the same ones who came out on the Friday outbound trip. The whole process was fairly painless. This is the first time we've taken this trip while toting our own skis and gear. We saved on rentals, but dragging all that gear can be cumbersome. Be prepared to haul all your own stuff off and on the acft at Hill as they have minimal ground support, especially on weekends. We were lucky to bumb a ride to the South Gate where my daughter, who has no ID, picked us up in the visitor center parking lot.