823 people onboard a C-17A!
Last weekend, 14/15 August, the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, by taking over the cities of Jalalabad and Kabul. Fearing living under Taliban rule and their way of life, many people (both Afghans and foreigners) decided to flee the country.
This meant a crazy run to Kabul-Hamid Karzai International Airport, located five kilometres from the city centre. Scenes of people fighting to get access to the apron, soldiers fighting their weapons in order to calm the crowd, people climbing on top of parked aircraft, refusing to leave aircraft ready to leave, and the now famous video footage of people running around and jumping on a taxiing C-17A Globemaster III of the United States Air Force.
RCH871, C-17A 01-0186 (msn 50094/F093/P86) from 3rd AS out of Dover AFB (DE), was one of the many aircraft involved in the evacuation of Afghan citizens. Understanding the worsening situation, the Globemaster's crew apparently packed what they thought to be around 800 people into the jet's main cargo bay and headed for the safety of Al Udeid AB, Qatar.
According to Boeing, a C-17's passenger carrying capacity is officially "eighty on eight pallets, plus 54 passengers on sidewall seats." So, if this 800 number was proving to be true, you can get an idea of just how jammed-packed the aircraft must have been.
Later calculations revealed they actually had 823 persons onboard the cargo aircraft, 640 adults and 183 children!
Shortly after leaving Kabul, the C-17A received aerial refuelling from KC-135R 63-8000 (msn 18617/T0656, callsign SHELL26) of 63rd ARS Flying Jennies (based at MacDill AFB (FL)), over Afghanistan.
The crew did an amazing job in getting those people out to safety!
Photo of the Globemaster kindly provided by Ian Howat, via AirHistory.net