Defense Industry Daily has a good closeup piece today on the efforts to keep the big planes flying. They’re almost like a piece of furniture in the local skies; you don’t always notice them, but every so often I’ll stop and watch and wonder where they’re going, or where they’re coming from. They connect this place with other places and events happening all around the world. I suppose some folks probably watch the container ships in Commencement Bay the same way.

The piece includes a link to the story of the C-17 that rolled off the Bagram Air Base runway, heavily damaging its front and right landing gear, back in August 2005. It wasn’t a big secret or anything but I hadn’t heard of it before. The story of how Air Force, Army and Boeing crews got the big jet off the Bagram runway and eventually back to the C-17 factory in Long Beach is an interesting tale. The guy who brought the Charleston jet home won a big test pilot award.

Boeing officials said the repairs are nearly done and the plane is due to be re-delivered to Charleston in mid-November.