Dover C-5M receives 8K pound ramp at Robins

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. – Jeffery Hal, 78th Operations Support Squadron Transient Alert Supervisor, guides in a 9th Airlift Squadron C-5M aircraft from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, to pick up an aft ramp at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, March 15, 2019. A recent C-5M mission resulted in damage that required replacement of its aft ramp, making it Mission Incapable, or a MICAP situation. An aft ramp is used to load and unload cargo into and out of the rear of a C-5M fuselage. A department of Defense team comprised of Air Force and Defense Logistics Agency members quickly located, inspected and identified an acceptable after ramp replacement. Due to its extreme size – a crate aft ramp is over 22 feet long, 13 feet wide, 12 feet tall and weighs in excess of 8,000 pounds – unusual measures were required during the inspection and identification of the replacement. To mitigate time constraints, team members actually inspected the aft in its warehouse location, as opposed to relocating and unpacking the asset for inspection purposes, cutting a months-long process down to one week. (U.S. Air Force photo by Edward Aspera Jr.)