After 60 years, C-130 still a 'magnificent machine' | Fox News
My grandpa was a loadmaster and instructor on a C-130 back in the 60s and early 70s because of this I have a soft spot for these planes. I hate Fox News but thanks for posting this.
Tail 0518 is at the front gate of Little Rock AFB with a sign telling how it carried 452 people out of Vietnam. From my perspective the C-130 is a great aircraft to fly on if you want to see the world. Fighters and bombers get the glory but they mostly fly from one military base to another. The Strat air lifters (C-5/17) go a lot of places but because they are giant and can air refuel they tend to go from one hub to another. The C-130 can go almost anywhere but you get to see a lot of stuff in between. No air refueling so you bounce your way around the globe stopping all kinds of places the other guys will never see. We go into all variety of small places that that the strat air lifters could never fit. On the road with a good crew the C-130 is a ton of fun.
My experience with them was exiting them via static line through the side door or ramp. Good aircraft, but that nap of the earth flying always made me queasy.
C-130's always been one of my favorites. When I was an enlisted airman at McChord AFB back in the late 1980's they had a 6-axis C-130 simulator there that they would let us fly when it wasn't being used for training. It was staffed and operational 24/7 by mostly civilian personnel and not usually in use at 0430 and it always seemed that the mission they had loaded was set in the desert... Also thought that the C-130 would make an awesome RV Set one up like a big flying motor home and go see the world.
Pretty much all the sim profiles looked like desert until a few years ago, it was probably more a function of simulator technology at the time. The sims now have better terrain and features so different areas actually look different and there are trees and buildings that actually look like trees and buildings. The graphics are still pretty crappy compaired to the stuff people have at home but it isn't really the point. The thing the sim is good for is practicing emergency procedures that you can't safely do in the real plane. Last week we simulated a mission in Colorado that involved taking off from a high altitude field on a hot day with a bunch of cargo.... Then you get engine failures at various stages of takeoff. Or other emergency terrain avoidance procedures. From what I understand the Boeing 777 sim uses Google Earth for its overlay to make things very realiStic. It is a very fun plane to take on the road as a crew
There was an early 1980's issue of Airman (1984 or 1985) celebrating the 130, titled "Legendary, Beyond Belief" Article went on to explain its early roles all the way up to current and expanded roles as Hurricane Hunter, AC-130 Gunship and deployment for PJ/CCT. Here it is today, still going strong.
Consider that the book "Herk: Hero of the Skies" has already been revised twice and is long overdue for another update! It's a great read if you haven't seen it.
It is probably the C-130 that inspired me to pursue a career in aviation at a later age than most people. I always used to see LC-130's (the ones with skis on the bottom) flying overhead when I was at college. I always though "thats what I want to do- fly for the guard." After grad school I moved back to that area and, in addition to my civilian engineering job, I worked as a rowing coach for my alma mater. The LC-130's would fly over our boathouse at 500A. Sort of got caught up in my civilian job, and before I knew it four or five years went by. After seeing enough of them, I decided it was about time to apply for a guard or reserve slot. Got hired by the first unit I interviewed with, but probably would've taken a job at the C-130 unit had it been offered. They sent one of their navs to UPT instead. I am still amazed that it's been in production for so long. We say everything is a "great ship" and sometimes we're serious and sometimes we're not, but I am when I say the 130 is a great ship.
This thread inspired me to dig up some old pics and a video made by one of our Navigators when my squadron first deployed to Afghanistan in 2004. The other video is C-130s flying in Alaska, where I was stationed (Elmendorf AFB). Some of the greatest low level flying on Earth. Hope you enjoy them. OEF 517th on Vimeo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je4PLZI8jEE Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Cool, thanks for sharing. If you ever make it out to the Little Rock area or next time I'm out towards Memphis we should get in touch. I'm pretty sure we have a bunch of mutual acquaintances as I know several of the guys whose names are in the start of the video. .
For sure, and it can be pretty darn realistic. The sim operators loved to throw out failures for us to deal with. One time they failed the nose gear steering on a landing and when I skidded off the runway the thing lurched so hard I got speared by the arm rest and got a bruise the size of a grapefruit on my side. Great pics, thanks for sharing!
After working on the F-22 for twelve years, I never thought that the C-130 program would be that interesting; after all, the aircraft was designed before I was born! But multiple versions and multiple customers (which the F-22 did not have) have made the experience quite fascinating. And, like my Ferrari, the C-130 has appeared on T.V. enough times to make it familiar to a lot of people. And it's far from just a military sky-truck: disaster relief, fire-fighting, hurricane-hunting, refugee evacuation - the labors of Hercules are many!
I'm glad some of you like the pics. Here's a few more I found this afternoon, all from Afghanistan. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Saw a number of them lined up at Patrick AFB last week. Bizarre sight for me. I thought they were ancient when I was getting my flight training at Quantico and Andrews nearly 30 years ago.
From about 2005 to 2011. Then to teach in Colorado Springs and just now moved to Tenn to get PhD or something.
Did a tour of Texas today for the Herky birthday. Flew from San Antonio to Laredo and followed the Tex/Med border all the way to El Paso up to just east of Roswell NM then out to Abilene and back down to San Antonio. Did it all at 6k feet which is high enough to get a good view but not too high. Here is a pic of Lake Amistad on the border between Del Rio and Ciudad Acuna. Image Unavailable, Please Login
