It is contrary to what common sense dictates.

A series of short C-17 Globemaster III flights demand intense aircrew energy and stamina. But longer sorties remain more physically manageable.

“Either way you look at it, our C-17 crews put in long hours that place physical and mental demands on the human body,” said Lt. Col. Chris Carlsen, commander of Detachment 2, 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. “And a lot of times they’re hitting the 26-hour mark.”

With a waiver, aircrews can fly two hours past the 24-hour flying duty day.

“Typically, the max is 24 hours of flying and 45 minutes of work allowed after [engine] shutdown,” said C-17 aircraft commander Capt. Daryl Myers. He measures his flying days in hours instead of miles flown. “But we can get a waiver to go up to 26 hours, which has happened a couple of times over here.”

First Lt. Greg Brock said an “easy” day is 15 to 16 hours of flying in, out and within the region. The C-17 pilot said “longer legs” (flights) on a multi-sortie mission are actually more manageable because the pilots take turns flying the transport and sleeping. Loadmasters also have been known to sleep on the floor when trips take longer than five hours.

“We sleep whenever we can,” said Lieutenant Brock, referring to the delicate balance between crew rest and flying. “We don’t have a set flying schedule, but we need a minimum of eight hours uninterrupted sleep on the ground in between missions. After a really long mission, I’ve slept up to 15 hours straight.”

The missions themselves are unpredictable. Recently, Captain Myers, Lieutenant Brock and Capt. James Wright prepared for an average night of flying with three stops. They reported for their intelligence and tactics briefings around 7 p.m. But when they got to the flightline to prepare for take-off, loadmaster Master Sgt. Bill Lambert told them there were changes in cargo.

“A one-alpha requirement came through,” said Sergeant Lambert, referring to a last-minute, high-priority cargo request. “And we had no choice but to completely unload the plane and rearrange all the cargo.”

It took more than an hour for the aerial porter troops to palletize the new load. Since the replacement cargo weighed more than the pallets it was replacing, everything had to be taken off the plane and reconfigured.

Everyone, from the aircraft commander to the loadmasters, worked to quickly transport the cargo from the K-loaders onto the plane. The bi-directional rollers on the C-17 airframe helped the crew move the cargo across the floor. Working against the clock, Sergeant Lambert and Senior Airman Steve Baird, another loadmaster, secured the new pallets with the C-17’s automatic locking pins.

Already several hours behind schedule, the aircrew flew to a nearby base, less than 300 miles away, where the crew offloaded the cargo. It was well after midnight when they landed and the crew was greeted with another surprise. There was enough cargo waiting on the ground to fill the entire aircraft for the flight back.

Once the aircraft was reloaded, the crew flew back here where aerial porter Airmen unloaded the pallets and prepared the plane for yet another sortie to a different destination.

By this time it was almost 5 a.m. Several crew members ran to the dining facility for a bite to eat. In less than an hour, they were ready to fly again. But this time there was a maintenance problem. A couple of hours later, the crew got orders to fly to Germany to resolve the maintenance issue, which required support and parts from the C-17 maintenance hub at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. In all, the crew worked 23 hours before calling it quits.

“Flying C-17s in the (area of responsibility) is a tough haul,” said Maj. Stephen Polomsky, detachment operations officer. “We try to manage how we set up the crew schedules, making sure there aren’t too many long days in a row. It’s critical we manage their rest cycle to ensure (operational risk management) precautions are heeded.”

Major Polomsky said the deployed environment is quite a bit different than routine C-17 missions in the United States.

“We’re looking at a very high ‘ops’ tempo in the desert,” he said. “Crews come out here for a couple of weeks at a time, they work really hard and then rotate back home. But within a matter of weeks, maybe days, they’re often tasked to come back.”

Despite the demanding flying hours, Airman Baird said he loves the C-17 mission.

“Time flies when you’re busy,” said the 23-year-old loadmaster who spent more than 200 days TDY in the last year. “With such a busy schedule, we rely on the pilots to help get the job done, and they, in turn, rely on us to help them.”

Captain Myers also finds his deployed duty in Southwest Asia satisfying.

“There’s nothing like the feeling of pulling Soldiers out of Baghdad who have been on the ground, serving a year,” said the pilot, who spent eight years enlisted before earning his commission and wings. “The troops always give a big cheer as we fly out of Iraq, and you can’t beat that feeling of satisfaction knowing you’re taking Soldiers and Marines back to the states.”