By Linda Taaffe

Landing a C-17 Globemaster loaded with troops and supplies in complete darkness at high enemy threat-level airfields throughout the Middle East was a routine operation for U.S. Air Force reserve pilot Mark Bauknight during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The possibility of enemy attack required pilots and ground crew to wear night-vision goggles for “blackout” landings in order to make military aircraft less noticeable targets. Several aircraft landing in Afghanistan had been fired on during the weeks preceding the war.

The lieutenant colonel was part of the 300th Airlift Squadron at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, which transported cargo and passengers in and out of the Middle East in one of the largest airlift operations in history. The Air Mobility Command made as many as 25 flights a day out of some airfields, moving more than 445,000 tons of cargo and 447,000 passengers to Afghanistan before the start of the war, according to reports from Aviation Week.

Pilots rotated shifts to keep planes moving. One pilot would land the aircraft, another would board and fly to the next destination. Pilots are only allowed to log 150 flying hours in a 30-day period.

Bauknight, 41, rarely stayed more than a couple of days in one place, said his mother Catherine Bauknight, who lives in Los Altos with her husband, Jerry.

“He was constantly moving, flying wherever he was needed,” she said.

Bauknight’s squadron was activated March 6, though he had made some previous flights to the Middle East with other units.

The C-17 is designed to make transoceanic flights as well as landings in difficult airfields, according to the U.S. Air Force. It is the newest and most flexible cargo aircraft in the airlift force capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and all types of cargo. The C-17 measures 174 feet long with a wingspan of 169 feet and costs $237 million.

None of the C-17 pilots were qualified to make landings with night-vision goggles prior to 9-11. All Charleston pilots were trained for blackout landings during Operation Enduring Freedom, the effort to thwart terrorism.

Bauknight was aircraft commander of the mission to bring home six causalities from a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, March 23. The airmen were killed when their HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed into a mountain near Ghazni while en route to pick up two Afghan children for medical treatment in the United States.

Bauknight told his mother, “U.S. troops, probably numbering several hundred, lined the road approaching the aircraft. An Honor Guard led the procession, as each case was carried down the road and onto the aircraft. The base chaplain said a prayer before we closed up the aircraft and launched for Ramstein.”

His mission made headlines around the world. A photo of Bauknight and his crew praying around the airmen appeared on “Good Morning America.”

Bauknight also made an appearance on “The Late Show” with David Letterman May 2, 2002. He was one of the 10 crew members to take a turn reading Letterman’s Top 10 list items in front of a C-17 as part of episode that recognized service members’ ongoing efforts to defeat terrorism.

The Top 10 Reasons I Love My Job: “I’m at the controls of a $200 million jet — what do you drive?” Bauknight said for Reason No. 1.

Bauknight served 15 years in the Air Force before joining the reserves three years ago. He is a 1984 graduate of the Air Force Academy.