Comments: Why the C-130 Is Such a Badass Plane
Stand up, buckle up, shuffle to the door,
Jump right out and count to 4,
If that chute don't open wide,
I got another one by my side.
Sound off.
one two
Sound off.
three four
I can't HEAR you!
Posted by ghostsniper at May 20, 2017 8:18 PM
In 1975 I was in the Air Force and wanted to spend a week in Hawaii. A friend of mine was in the aircrew of a C-130 and offered me a sure flight to Hawaii but it was a 12 hour flight in a 130 and ge also said they usually lost an engine and sometimes two on the flight. No! I think I will wait standby.
Posted by GoneWithTheWind at May 20, 2017 9:29 PM
Three-thousand hours in that bird, sandwiched between Connies and DC-6s, which were not quite lumbering but close to it. I've always thought this tale was somewhat hyped. He probably was nowhere near 20,000# overweight - someone probably used U.S. passenger/baggage weights to calculate this, and the Vietnamese probably weighed in at around 2/3 of the U.S. standard. That would put him in the "doable but dangerous" overweight category. That aside, it is spectacular they managed to cram 452 human bodies into that cargo bay. Oh, and GTW, in three-thousand C-130 hours we had to feather an engine three or four times. Compare that to Connies, where we had to feather an engine every three or four trips.
Posted by billH at May 21, 2017 7:42 AM
If that second chute don't hold true
Move your ass I'm comin' through
Hit the ground and splatter wide
Splatter across the country side
Posted by Butch at May 21, 2017 7:59 AM
It's a great story, but gives me flashes of the Huey's being mobbed by routed ARVN infantrymen.
Posted by Casey Klahn at May 21, 2017 8:43 AM
After the first five rides in a C-119, the C-130 was a luxurious god-send. They were great for short dirt field landings and with Jato's would not take much more take off space than a Piper Cub.
Posted by indyjonesouthere at May 21, 2017 10:27 AM
flyin boxcar
Posted by ghostsniper at May 21, 2017 12:56 PM
I don't have billH's 3000 hours in a C130, but I do have 3 years experience with them. I last flew the Herc 30 years ago and now have just short of 20,000 hours in transport type airplanes. The C130 has a wide variety of missions and does them all well. It is, by far, my favorite big airplane to fly.
Posted by azlibertarian at May 21, 2017 1:21 PM
I get to watch them all day, every day, from my house. Almost close enough to see into the cockpit as they come in for a landing. Awesome, fat, funky birds. I know them by their sound now.
The absolute ugliest big plane out there, however, is Boeing's Dreamlifter. You'd swear the horizon was lifting when you see it pop up over the trees. Looks like a giant subway car that someone slapped a nose-cone, tail, and wings on. Ugh-ly.
Posted by Joan of Argghh! at May 21, 2017 7:15 PM
A Viet orphan on that flight was suppose to be evacuated the day before but the plane was full. That plane was shot down just after takeoff and all aboard were killed.
She not only got out on that flight but went on to be adopted by an American couple, raised in the US and ended up marrying a friend of mine. Small world sometimes.
Posted by Frisco Scooter Trash at May 22, 2017 8:49 AM