as Colombia rejected the arrival of U.S. C-17 planes and instead sent its own aircraft to pick up the migrants. The operational cost of these military transport planes has been criticized ...

As aviation technology improves, it's only natural that older units are replaced with moradvanced, efficient models, especially when they are no longer as cost ... aircraft could take the C-17's ...

At 174 feet long and 55 feet tall, the C-17 can carry a payload of around 170,000 pounds and can land on runways shorter than 3,500 feet with just three crew members manning the aircraft.