When Julie Minnocci pulled into the Crystal Ridge subdivision with her family Sunday there was nothing unusual as she meandered the road heading home. Then, one of her twin boys let her know that she needed to look out the window.

 

“My son Dominico was the one that noticed it. He said ‘mommy, look at the huge plane.’ I looked, and sure enough, there was a huge plane at the airport.”

 

The huge plane, according to North Central West Virginia Airport Director Rick Rock, was a Boeing C-17 military transport plane. It’s not the first time that type of plane has been at the airport.

 

“The plane was coming in and doing some training. They come in at times to get to fuel, come in to do test runs and come in and do touch and goes,” said Rock. “These planes help with the local Air National Guard and they used to be more frequent. We hope to see more of them.”

 

Minnocci was able to get home and let her husband John know about the plane. While her twins Dominico and Jovanni ran back and forth to watch the plane, her husband videotaped the plane.

 

“I’ve never seen a plane that big in our seven years,” said Minnocci. “It flew over the airport and it looked like a giant whale.”

 

Rock said the plane was likely out of Martinsburg or Washington, D.C. He said with the NCWV Airport being a public use airport they typically just make contact with the airport’s tower to get the approval to do the practice runs.

 

“They’re impressive to see. I’ve been around this airport a while and it never gets old, especially if you have an appreciation for the military,” said Rock. “We’re extremely proud to be able to service our military in this manner and hope they continue to utilize our facility in the future.”

 

Training missions with military and other high profile aircraft are not totally unusual for the NCWV Airport due to its location close to the nation’s capital and other key military bases along the east coast. Planes that often serve as Air Force One have also been seen locally doing practice runs in Bridgeport.

 

The video below, as well as the photo, is courtesy of John Minnocci who was intially told the plane was a C-130.