---
title: "Video Emerges Of C-5 Galaxy Making A Nose Gear Up Landing At Lackland Air Force Base"
description: "The massive Galaxy airlifter is notorious for landing gear issues and low reliability overall."
date: "2018-08-08"
modified: "2018-08-08"
authors:
  - name: "Tyler Rogoway"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/tyler-rogoway"
url: "https://www.twz.com/22744/video-emerges-of-c-5-galaxy-making-a-nose-gear-up-landing-at-lackland-air-force-base"
categories:
  - "Air"
  - "Air Forces"
  - "Americas"
  - "Around The Globe"
  - "Bunkers & Installations"
  - "C-5"
  - "News & Features"
  - "Transports"
  - "U.S. Air Force"
  - "U.S. Homeland"
tags:
  - "Airlifter"
  - "C-5"
  - "C-5M"
  - "emergency"
  - "Gear Up"
  - "Lackland AFB"
  - "landing"
  - "Nose Gear"
  - "san antonio"
  - "Texas"
---

# Video Emerges Of C-5 Galaxy Making A Nose Gear Up Landing At Lackland Air Force Base

![](<https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-twz/content/2018/08/jjjajdad11.jpg>)
*www.twz.com*

The [C-5 is a flying warehouse](<https://www.twz.com/20905/this-air-force-spoof-on-mtv-cribs-offers-a-great-tour-of-the-c-5-galaxy>) of an aircraft, but with all its lifting capacity [comes high complexity](<https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-massive-hangar-bay-is-where-the-usaf-gives-its-big-1747201366>) and the type is certainly known for its fair share of chronic issues. On a week when the last upgraded C-5M was announced delivered, a video showing a Galaxy making an incredibly well-flown nose gear up landing at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas has come to light.

***Here's a direct [link to the Facebook video](<https://www.facebook.com/jqpublic/videos/2194943330577156/>) in case it doesn't show up automatically below on your mobile device:***

It's not clear if the video, which was first posted on [*John Q. Public's*](<https://www.jqpublicblog.com/>) Facebook page, was shot recently or [on March 15th, 2018](<https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Air-Force-jet-lands-after-nose-gear-fails-to-12757197.php>) when a known nose gear up landing by as C-5 occurred at the base, but the latter is probably the case. Nobody was hurt in that incident and the aircraft was deemed repairable, but it marked another in a very long line of issues with [Galaxy's troublesome landing gear](<https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-is-gargantuan-c-5-galaxy-landing-1682845926>) which has [included many emergency landings](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=203&v=boTuiEPXqJU>). In the Summer of 2017, two C-5s from Dover Air Force Base had [similar issues in Rota, Spain](<https://theaviationist.com/2017/05/23/u-s-air-force-c-5-galaxy-performs-nose-gear-up-landing-at-rota-air-base-in-spain/>) which resulted in the grounding of the USAF's truncated force of just 56 C-5s.

During the grounding, it was discovered that the ball-screw assembly was malfunctioning and causing issues with the nose gear's extension and retraction process. The entire fleet received new ball-screw assemblies but it seems that didn't necessarily cure the C-5's nose gear woes.

https://twitter.com/\_/status/1025132038922412039

But that's not too surprising. The C-5's long history of landing gear issues includes the aircraft's issues to rise again after its nose gear 'kneels' to accept cargo through the jet's giant tilting nosecone door. I have had more than one C-5 crewmen tell me that the chances of the jet's nose gear lifting as advertised basically a coin toss. This is in addition to the myriad of other issues that impact the aircraft's reliability, many of which were supposed to be solved by the C-5M upgrade, although large increases in availability have [not materialized as expected.](<https://www.twz.com/19119/heres-a-handy-inventory-list-of-usaf-aircraft-and-their-mission-capable-rates>)

https://youtube.com/embed/hZ1nfKQZ408

Regardless of the details surrounding this nose gear up landing, the crew did an amazing job of keeping the nose off the ground as long as possible and thus keeping the jet, the surrounding infrastructure and their own souls intact. You can read all about what it is like to pilot the C-5 in [this past feature of mine.](<https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/what-it-is-like-to-fly-the-americas-biggest-jet-the-ga-1727650088>)

We are reaching out to Lackland AFB for comment and will update this post when we find out any more information about the video.

*Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com*

## Author
Tyler’s passion is the study of military technology, strategy, as well as foreign policy, and he has fostered a dominant voice on those topics in the defense and national security space. Tyler was the creator of the hugely popular defense site *Foxtrot Alpha* before developing *TWZ*, which he continues to lead as the Editor-In-Chief to this day.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/Aviation_Intel>)