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November 6,
2000
U.S. Air Force's "Fat Albert" to Conduct
Training Flight at Lehigh Valley International Airport
Contact:
Lawrence J. Krauter at 610-266-6001
Lehigh Valley,
Pa. - The Lehigh Valley International Airport is scheduled to
be visited by "Fat Albert" early this week. The planned visit will
take place on November 7th or 8th and will actually be made by an
aircraft that is affectionately called "Fat Albert". The aircraft
is a U.S. Air Force C-5A Galaxy, and it's called Fat Albert for
a good reason. The aircraft is almost as long as a football field,
as tall as a six-story building and has a cargo compartment about
the size of an eight-lane bowling alley. The C-5 is one of the largest
aircraft in the world.
The C-5 is similar
in appearance to the C-141 Starlifter, a smaller transport aircraft
sometimes seen in the skies over the Lehigh Valley, although the
C-5 is much larger. Both aircraft have the distinctive high T-tail,
25-degree wing sweep and four turbofan engines mounted on pylons
beneath the wings. The C-5 is more than twice the size of Boeing
737 aircraft that typically serve the Airport (see figure below).
The aircraft
will make multiple approaches to runways at Lehigh Valley International
Airport during a 60-minute period sometime between 10:00 AM and
Sunset to test on-board navigational equipment before departing
for Europe.
The Lehigh-Northampton
Airport Authority operates Lehigh Valley International Airport,
Queen City Airport and Braden Airpark. These commercial service
and general aviation facilities serve a 12 county area with a population
of 2.3 million people.
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