The Pentagon: Good for Whales, But Not for Warriors

Good for Whales, But Not for Warriors

The Air Force's C-17 GLOBEMASTER was chosen last week to fly KEIKO, the killer whale and star of Free Willy, back home because the rugged cargo plane is uniquely suited to land on the short runway at Iceland's Heimaey airport. It's not as well equipped, unfortunately, for one of its primary missions: dropping parachuting G.I.s rapidly into the world's hot spots. It seems that in flight, the hulking 300-ton plane kicks up a lot of turbulence. Such swirling atmospheric eddies can entangle soldiers in their parachute lines, collapse their chutes or hurl airborne paratroopers dangerously into one another. The Globemaster suffers...

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