Patent ID: 7338015

Claim:
A method of air dropping an object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight, having a first end, a second end, and an external shell therebetween, from a carrier aircraft having an internal storage cargo bay and within the cargo bay having a load deck, and a loading ramp which functions as one half of a rearwardly facing cargo door, the method comprising the steps of: mounting the object of at least 50,000 pounds to a first part of a two part carrier on a plurality of sets of wheels mounted to the first part, the plurality of sets of wheels arranged to engage the external shell and arranged in two rows to form a first track; mounting the first part of the two part carrier to the load deck with the object of at least 50,000 pounds mounted thereto, and mounting a second part of the two part carrier to the loading ramp; restraining the object of at least 50,000 pounds on the first part; flying the carrier aircraft to a drop altitude and opening the rearwardly facing cargo door and lowering the loading ramp; pitching up the carrier aircraft and the load deck to which the first part of the two part carrier is mounted, to an angle to the horizontal so that gravity acting on the object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight applies an extraction force along a line defined between the object first end and the object second end, said extraction force acting to extract the object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight from the carrier aircraft; releasing for movement along the track created by the two rows of wheels, the object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight so that the object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight begins to exit the aircraft under the influence of gravity; allowing the movement of the object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight over the second part of the two part carrier mounted to the loading ramp, on a second plurality of sets of wheels arranged to engage the external shell and arranged in two rows to form a continuation track; and allowing the object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight to be discharged from the carrier aircraft to perform an air drop of the object of at least 50,000 pounds in weight.