The Aug. 15 C-17 evacuation flight from Kabul set a new record—by far—for the amount of passengers carried on a Globemaster III flight with 823 people, a dramatic rise from the initially reported number on the flight.

The crew of the C-17, call sign REACH871 from the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, decided for themselves to take off from Hamid Karzai International Airport with the plane packed full of Afghan evacuees because of a “dynamic security environment” as the situation at the airport deteriorated.

Air Mobility Command, in a statement Aug. 20, said the initial count of 643 only included adults sitting in bus seats after the C-17 landed at Al Udeid. It did not include the 183 children sitting on adult laps.

Release USAF https://www.airforcemag.com/kabul-evacuation-flight-c-17-record/
Photo Rob Vogelaar