Ode to the Herc: Is this a crash?

Naw, it's a C-130... nothing to gasp at here folks, normal day at the office.

C-130's Rock!

One of the pilots in my squadron who I had the luck to fly with a lot, pioneered a variation of this move... it's called "Downwind leg - delete"

You come in, VFR, to some unsuspecting field and approach the specified runway at 1000 ft.. then ask for permission to land. The controller will stutter a little maybe but usually comply... so then you just tip her over and dive for it!
- controller: "Holy Shit!"

PS.. Yes, they stop on a dime, too.
No hook, no arresters

That is a MC air-refueler/troop transport Tail# 149798, diverted on way to major overhaul, to Patuxent River. VR-1, my squadron did the ready-maint on it and 2 crew from our squadron were aboard.


No catapult, either

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But REALLY amazing:
an RC MASTER!

 

RE: Is this a crash?

Speaking of flying, I may start taking classes/lessons on how to fly helicopters sometime in the near future (like in the next year or two).

 

May? Do you have your fixed wing license? Choppers are cool.... but http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8261061208297425274&q=helicopter idiot&hl=en
- note, no label is needed; helicpter + idiot says it all

Similar case in Columbus a couple years ago... some guy with more money than brains bought a small chopper to keep in his backyard, and killed himself in it.. turns out it was the tenth time he'd taken it up and he had no flying lessons, ever. Marvel is that he lasted that long.
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I NEVER been up in a chopper.. and maybe because of that, never had a wish to fly one.
But if I could have, I'd have an ultra-light which is just as dangerous or more to fly. But I always thought I'd pretend I was a balloonist when deciding whether and when to take it up
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Dang, there's some sicko's post videos... there's tons of long videos with nothing but big-loss air crashes but the worst is the guy gets out of a four-seater chopper after his wife and kid and raises his arms in a 'victory gesture'... fade to blood on camera lens. Yuchh!

Makes me think twice about my little smug smile whenever I see folks crouch while running out from under the rotor.

 

I love em... Saturday training flight, boy scout troop in tower at PaXRiver, ahead of us in queue, a fighter jock and the tower asks pilot respectfully to show the kids something.

He didnt, a granny rollout and rotate. Our driver says to tower he'll give 'em something..

Holy Crap... Full Power, Brakes on, stuck to bulkhead {sat sideways} and rotate in about 500 feet to a 45 degree climb... WOW!

That is why almost ALL the first flights into Baghdad Intl were Herc's

Tower says: "Thank you sir, there's lots of amazed kids!"

And you will NEVER see anything like through that picture window in the 'office'... had LOTS of goose-bump sights {in a GOOD WAY} especially night and dusk sights.

Come ON... nobody killed or even hurt. Cept the helicopter idiots pride.
Note I didnt link the one where there was blood...I dont watch vid's for death! Gimme a break.
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And, Don.. I know what you know is a distinct 'feature' of riding in a Herc, freakin' bleed-air noise. But you wouldnt believe what happens when they turn it off, temporarily.. your ears ring from the silence. And imagine sleeping in the rack right below it.
Now.. here's something to think about: The C-130 Hercules has been in production, continuously, for HALF the history of powered flight

LOCKHEED MARTIN LOOKS TO THE FUTURE WITH THE C-130J SUPER HERCULES AS IT CELEBRATES FIFTY YEARS OF AIRLIFT EXCELLENCE
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Note: Test flights of prototype or first production included equipping Herc with ejection seats and taking it over the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola {for rescue purposes} and trying to pull the wings off from a powered dive and pullout. The aircraft lost a lot of intruments and had to be rebuilt to fly again but it landed, under power, at Pensacola.

Note: The carrier landing was used in an episode of JAG, where Harm {he can fly anything!} landed a C-130 load of refugees on a carrier. End credits showed this landing and noted the actual fete. That's why Bellisario knew it could done.

 

That wasnt the props, Heather.. that was the bleed-air for the turbines that is used to power the auxiliary equipment.. the engine/props hum.. like I say, if it's off, the relative silence almost hurts.
Bleed air duct is HOt too, of course.. that's why I drew the bunk right under it. I was 'junior'
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Only aircrew, when alone, get the fun of 'doing' tricks.. but i used to perform for passenger troops:
We used to ferry mid-Atlantic Marines and Army reservists to Fort Benning for jump school training. But in the old C-118/DC-6 piston engine jobs.
Often at its altitudes, there was rough air, and the plane would shake and bump... and drop of course, like a roller coaster.

So, whenever that happened, I'd find an excuse to leave the office and walk back through the plane -using my palms on the overhead to keep my feet down- past the green-faced grunts sitting there with box-lunches in their laps.
And I'd make a comment about 'how good those pork sandwiches on white were... and the pudding cup was great'!

To this day, I love rough air.

 

1991 or so:
Boss and I flying back to Dayton from NY, nice calm evening flight everything quiet, about 31,000 feet...

We cross the vortex of a north-south flight 1000 feet above or below. Plane shudders with a bump-bump, then all smooth and quiet again.
Boss is a 'white-knuckler, he turns slowly and looks at me:
I just say..."Railroad tracks"
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Anyone ever fly Piedmont/USAir into Pittsburgh? Every landing used to seem like a controlled crash.
One time, on the inevitable bump hop and stop, one guy a few rows up says:
"I just bit my tongue, this must be Pittsburgh"!

I got a millyun of 'em.

 

Heh.. good one!

 

haha. No and No. I have no intention of learning to fly a helicopter or plane. Actually, I don't even know the full list of requirements.

No one else had posted I thought I'd post a bland comment to see where you would take it, since you know about aviation and tend to go into rants from time to time. I only chose to say a helicopter rather than an airplane because I heard the medical transport chopper coming in to the nearby hospital while browsing the site, so the sound of it was stuck in my head.


wheeee