[2] At approximately 6:22 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time (UTC-8), the C-17 took off from Runway 06 at Elmendorf AFB to practice the display routine.

At the time of the crash, the base had eight of the aircraft, operated jointly by an active duty Air Force organization, the 3rd Wing's 517th Airlift Squadron; and an Alaska Air National Guard unit, the 176th Wing's 249th Airlift Squadron.

[2] The four crew members on board all died; they were majors Michael Freyholtz and Aaron Malone, pilots assigned to the Alaska ANG's 249th Airlift Squadron; Captain Jeffrey Hill, a pilot assigned to Elmendorf's active-duty Air Force's 517th Airlift Squadron; and Senior Master Sergeant Thomas E. Cicardo, a loadmaster of the Alaska ANG's 249th Airlift Squadron.

[1] The accident displayed significant similarities with the 1994 crash of a B-52 bomber at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.

On both occasions, the local USAF unit's chain of command apparently failed to prevent the pilots involved from developing deliberately unsafe flying practices for aerial displays of large aircraft.