[T.Smith]

What benefits does a commercial version of the C-17 have over other commercial aircraft? Short field landings?

[Paleo Conservative]

What benefits does a commercial version of the C-17 have over other commercial aircraft? Short field landings?

Short field landings on rough fields including gravel runways. They could be used to carry large cargo to remote regions of the world where Fedex and other conventional freighters can't land.

[Loud Mime]

Skydivers?

Paratroopers use it; must be one heck of a windblast!

[stm]

That is one of them. They can operate out of airports that other aircraft of it’s size cannot.

[Freeport]

To date, it’s the only heavy lifter that can land on unprepared fields. The An-12x and C-5s all need llllloooonnnggg runways to put down on.

However, according to the GAO:

Military Airlift: Comparison of C-5 and C-17 Airfield Availability (Letter Report, 07/11/94, GAO/NSIAD-94-225).

The Air Force has greatly overestimated the number of airfields worldwide that can accommodate the wide-bodied, C-17 cargo plane; when runway strength is considered, the C-17's wartime advantage over its C-5 predecessor shrinks from 6,400 to about 900 airfields. The C-17 advantage dwindles even further when only airfields that have been determined by the Air Force to be suitable for military operations are considered. So far, the Air Force has surveyed about 2,800 airfields as suitable for military operations. When wartime landing requirements, including minimum runway strength, are considered, the C-17's wartime airfield advantage is 145. When airfields in the United States, Canada, and Mexico are excluded, the C-17's wartime advantage falls to 95 airfields. Although the Air Face claims that the C-17's ability to land at small, austere airfields during wartime is a significant military advantage, the Defense Department has identified only three such airfields that the C-17 would use in major regional contingency scenarios; two are in Korea and one is in Saudi Arabia.

[doorgunner69]

Besides the replies about rough field landings, the C-17 can load some amazing sized cargo. I watched the C-17 accompanying Cheney load up the SS detail limo and Suburbans. The Suburbans were loaded side by side. How many commercial haulers can do that?

[SkyPilot]

What benefits does a commercial version of the C-17 have over other commercial aircraft?

- It can handle oversize and outsize cargo - something not every airliner converted to a cargo aircraft can do.

- It can land with a full payload of many tons on shoter and unimproved fields, making it capable of delivering things like heavy equipment to places where a B-747 converted to a cargo aircraft cannot do. Same for takeoff.

But, it is damned expensive aircraft.