C-5A Austere Airfield Operational Utility Evaluation Phase II - Operation on Unpaved Soil Surfaces Following Rainfall

摘要

During the summer of 1980 and the winter of 1980-1981, an Operational Utility Evaluation (OUE) was conducted to determine operating characteristics of the C-5A airplane when taxiing or being towed and off-loaded on unpaved soil surfaces and on snow-covered surfaces. Subsequent to the successful completion of those tests, questions arose concerning the effects of rainfall that wets otherwise adequate bare soil areas to a significant depth. Tests with simulated rainfall of various amounts applied by agricultural sprinkler systems were conducted at March AFB, California, during July 1981. The airplane performed well, though it approached its performance limits in the most severe test conditions. Difficulties were encountered in arriving at a sprinkler system configuration reasonably approximating naturally occurring rainfall, and in arriving at a single simple descriptor to properly characterize the strength of soil in such a complex situation.