KANDAHAR, Afghanistan &0151; In the pitch darkness of night, the Canadian military's new C-17 transport plane touched down softly at Kandahar Military Airport on Wednesday in southern Afghanistan. The pilots landed the giant carrier with its lights extinguished, guided solely by night-vision goggles.
"We took a tactical approach with the night-vision goggles, with the airplane lights turned off, with the engines idling,'' said Maj. Jean Maisonneuve, chief check pilot at 429 Transport Squadron, 8 Wing, in Trenton, Ont. "In a way, we're sort of pioneers.''
The gigantic, 200-tonne bird of steel is expected to have an effect on Canadian troop confidence as they continue to battle with Taliban insurgents, Maisonneuve said in a short interview shortly after landing.
"This plane will have a positive impact on the morale of the troops. Speaking with my colleagues, I can tell you that everyone is happy to know that we have modern tools at our disposal and a better (transport) No more Ukrainian rentals capacity than before,'' he said. |