AWARDED DFC: 1
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  GWOT
MODEL:  C-130H

Citation:  1.) The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Captain Mason E. MacGarvey for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as a C-130H Instructor Pilot, 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, 379th Expeditionary Operations Group, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar on 27 June 2008 in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. On that date, shortly after takeoff from Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, Captain MacGarvey's crew received and quickly reacted to a missile warning indication. During the threat maneuver three of the aircraft's four engines failed to return to normal operating power. At just three hundred feet above the ground, Captain MacGarvey quickly directed the crew to accomplish the emergency checklist to restore power to the failed engines while simultaneously preparing for a forced landing. With incredible skill and only one fully-operating engine, he steered the stricken aircraft away from a populated area and other close-in obstacles towards a small barren field suitable for landing. Additionally he battled poor lift due to air temperatures of more than one hundred degrees, maintaining control of the aircraft and preventing a potentially catastrophic stall. Despite the crew's best efforts to restore power to the inoperable engines, Captain MacGarvey was out of viable options and executed a phenomenal wings-level landing, thus preventing the aircraft from cart wheeling and ensuring the fuselage remained intact. The total time from the loss of engines until the aircraft impacted the ground was just 27 seconds. Captain MacGarvey's exemplary airmanship was directly responsible for saving all 38 lives on board with no significant injuries. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by Captain MacGarvey reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.