Something in my neighborhood

[bbjohn]

Here's something you don't expect to see at a small town airport.

It seems the Marines were conducting parachute training for recon and special ops units, and they used the airport near my hometown in Western Arizona. They started making their drops at 7,000 feet and gradually worked their way up to 20,000 feet. I must say watching a C-130 in flight at low altitude is a spectacular sight, though not as spectacular as a B-52, which I've also seen.

This is actually a KC-130, as it can also do aerial refueling.

The crew told me a C-130 can carry 20 tons of cargo, 96 passengers, 72 full-equipped combat troops, or 64 paratroopers.

I suspect these exercises also gave the plane crews a chance to practice take-offs and landings on short runways. The one at this airport is about 7,000 feet long.

Here's something I learned that's astonishing. The C-130 is from the same time period as the B-52, and the Air Force has used them for over 50 years. Not only that, the C-130 is still in production at Lockheed Martin. I guess you can credit that to a sound, rugged basic design and the fact the plane has proven so versatile in performing many roles.

The C-130 Hercules may not be the prettiest bird in the sky, but you can always count on it to get the job done.

-Big Bad John

[bbjohn]

Yes, I know it's the same photo. I had some problems posting it, and I wound up posting it twice. I do not get along well with computers. I think long-distance computer throwing should be an Olympic sport. I figured I better quit while I was ahead.

-Big bad John

[fred2422]

The airplane shown is a C-130J. The easiest indicator is the six bladed props. The "J" has been around since the mid-1990's and is the latest iteration. The first C-130 I flew on was a C-130A that had indeed been built in the mid-1950's. I believe the oldest in the current military fleet is the C-130H that dates to the 1970's.

[schlamm]

Another view of a HC-130J from my neighborhood, props are a little easier to see and this is a USAF version with a FLIR turret under the nose and some other 'interesting' capabilities

[Fred588]

You used to be able to see these three at a time in the Studio area, always in single file and at quite low altitude. They train the air base in Little Rock. I believe they sometimes practice approaches to a very tiny air strip just a few miles from the Studio as they would fly over the Studio at tree top level. Unless they were looking for muddy models! In recent years I've never seen more than two and usually just one. Maybe they are saving fuel or perhaps they are training for different kinds of missions.

[Duncan Edwards]

You used to be able to see these three at a time in the Studio area, always in single file and at quite low altitude. They train the air base in Little Rock. I believe they sometimes practice approaches to a very tiny air strip just a few miles from the Studio as they would fly over the Studio at tree top level. Unless they were looking for muddy models! In recent years I've never seen more than two and usually just one. Maybe they are saving fuel or perhaps they are training for different kinds of missions.

A high school friend of mine flew with the squadron at Little Rock AF Reserve base. With the declining military that unit has now diminished to the point that he sold his skills to United Airlines and retired from the USAF. At one time the nation's largest C-130 outfit was based in Nashville with the Tennessee Air National Guard. I've seen C-130's in every sort of configuration drop low over my head all my life until recently. Now they are gone from here as well. The basic design is sound enough that the Air Force spent a fortune trying to replace it back in the 70's with no success. The replacement prototypes, YC-14 and YC-15, sit in the desert bone yard while the Herc soldiers on.

[jadokast98]

Regarding the YC-14 & -15, they both are in an outdoor museum across the street from "The Boneyard". Both are at the Pima County Air Museum, which is very near the Davis-Monthan AN in Tucson,AZ. I recalled reading about the YC-14 when I was a highschooler in the 80s and recognized it immediately sitting there. The YC-15 evolved into the C-17 that flies our troops and equipment to and from the 'Stan and those areas.

Cool pics!

[nachtjaeger]

Our local guard base (Stratton ANG) hosts the 109th Airlift Wing, the gang that flies the ski-equipped LC-130s to Antarctica.

[Mynock]

It's a big round can with wings that holds lots of stuff.....kind of hard to improve on it. Popping newer more efficient engines into an existing airframe has to be cheaper than designing a new one.

[dlodoski]

It's a big round can with wings that holds lots of stuff.....kind of hard to improve on it. Popping newer more efficient engines into an existing airframe has to be cheaper than designing a new one.

Yea, but does it look like a big Tylenol?

Not really, but count me in the ranks of C-130 fans. It's also one of the best planes to fly on the simulator if you're wasted. It hardly seems lumbering at all....