U.S. Navy C-26D Makes Italy to Texas Maintenance Flight

A U.S. Navy C-26D aircraft has accomplished a 2,241 mile, eight-day, eight-stop, eight-country flight from a U.S. Navy facility in Naples, Italy to a repair depot in New Braunfels, Texas. 

Such a flight seems unremarkable by modern, U.S. Military cargo aircraft standards. And it would have been, were not the C-26D the U.S. Navy version of the Fairchild Metroliner 23–a 1970s vintage, 19-seat, twin-turboprop, commuter airliner. 

In the American Pacific Northwest of the 1980s, Horizon Airlines Metroliner pilots could be heard openly referring to the airplane as the Death Tube on the company’s air-to-air frequency. The appellation derived of the machine’s fuselage, which afforded crews and passengers about as much head and leg-room as a rifle barrel. Embracing the metaphor, one begins to fathom the newsworthiness of an Italy-to-Texas C-26D flight.

The mission was simple: fly a damaged but airworthy C-26D from Naples, in southwestern Italy, to a repair station in New Braunfels, a Texas municipality about thirty-miles northeast of San Antonio. 

As the C-26’s 1,800 nautical mile range precluded a direct flight between the two cities, Pilots, Lt. Daniel Sanchez and Lt. Alec McGaffic, plotted a circuitous but safe and feasible route that took the airplane to Ramstein, Germany; Stornoway, Scotland; Keflavik, Iceland; Narsarsuaq, Greenland (population 123); Goose Bay, Canada; Burlington, Vermont; and Louisville, Kentucky, before safely landing in New Braunfels, Texas on 16 May 2022.

The mission exemplified the acumen, expertise, and resourcefulness of U.S. Naval Aviators, and the dedication of the maintenance personnel who support Naval aviation. 

Dave Adams, USN utility airlift integrated product team leader, said of the operation, "We just had to wait until the weather was accommodating before the flights could proceed. It took a bit to get the aircraft ready but I’m glad it all worked out and the aircraft and crew have safely reached their destination.”

The intrepid C-26D will undergo structural repairs at the New Braunfels facility and is expected to return to Naples in two to three months.

FMI: www.navy.mil