[Moose4]

If they only lost one engine, I'm kind of surprised they couldn't make it back to the base, unless there was another problem. Still, to put that thing down in a cornfield, loaded, and have all 17 onboard survive? Miracle. That's the best word for it.

}:-)4

[Gabz]

One of the video clips I saw early on this morning showed just how close to the runway they were.

The land where it went down is a potato farm.

[Western Phil]

"Still, to put that thing down in a cornfield, loaded, and have all 17 onboard survive? Miracle. That's the best word for it."

For a short time in the late 60s, before the plane flew, I was peripherally involved with the test track instrumentation for the landing gear load testing for the C5A. They fitted a load cart with a landing gear and drove it back and forth on sections of concrete and asphalt runways/taxiways. The rumor we heard was that the C5A landing gear was designed to operate from dirt strips. Don't know if anyone ever tried it.

[Fred Hayek]

I heard something about a hydraulic failure.