First Dyess C-130J Delivered-Tail #07-3170(5628)

[Guest]

Air Force chief of staff delivers new C-130J to Dyess

By Celinda Emison

Friday, April 16, 2010

Referred to as “the sound of freedom,†the C-130J Super Hercules arrived at Dyess Air Force Base Friday afternoon.

Gen. Norton “Norty†Schwartz, chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, personally delivered the first C-130J, the newest generation of the C-130 Hercules, to Dyess.

“Today marks a new chapter in the history of Dyess,†Scwhartz said. “It (the C-130) is the backbone of our tactical air lift capabilities with aircrews deployed around the globe.â€

The aircraft, dubbed “The Pride of Abilene,†is the first of 28 C-130J models slated for arrival at Dyess by 2013. The C-130J primarily performs the tactical portions of airlift missions. The new model has complete digital controls, new engines, is 15-feet longer, and can hold more cargo. It even has cupholders for the pilots.

Gen. Schwartz, a command pilot who has flown the C-130E and the C-130H, predecessors to the C-130J, and a nine-member crew landed the plane at 1:30 p.m.

“The ‘Herc†holds a warm spot in my heart,†said Schwartz, who has logged 4,400 hours of flying time and is the first pilot to serve in the top position of the Air Force.

U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer accompanied Schwartz and crew on the flight. All were greeted with enthusiastic applause as they deplaned.

“This is a great day for Abilene and a great day for Dyess,†Neugebauer said. “The C-130 takes us to fight, keeps us in the fight, and brings us home.â€

Dyess is the second to last air base to take delivery on the newest model of the C-130. Once all 28 planes arrive, it will be home to the largest C-130J unit in the world, said Col. Dan Dagher, commander of the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess.

Yokota Air Base in Japan will begin taking delivery on C-130J’s in 2013, after all of the planes have been delivered to Dyess.

The C-130J will replace most of the fleet of the C-130H models at Dyess. There are 33 C-130H models housed at Dyess. They are more than 35 years old and will be sent to air bases that are retiring the older C-130E.

The C-130 has undergone continual modifications since it was first used more than 50 years ago. The newest version of the plane, like its forbearers, is designed for military transport of troops and materials. It also serves a valuable service in humanitarian air operations.

Dr. Jim Webster, chairman of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee, said he encouraged Neugebauer and others to make sure Dyess was on the list to receive the newer models.

“This is the busiest C-130 group in the world and it has the oldest and worst airplanes,†Webster recalled telling officials in Washington.

Webster applauded Schwartz for his determination to deliver the air craft himself.

“Your presence here speaks untold volumes on the importance of this plane in our war on terror,†Webster said.

[DC10FE]

Air Force chief of staff delivers new C-130J to Dyess

By Celinda Emison

Friday, April 16, 2010

“The ‘Herc†holds a warm spot in my heart,†said Schwartz, who has logged 4,400 hours of flying time and is the first pilot to serve in the top position of the Air Force. QUOTE]

Huh? Am I missing something here?

Don R.

[StovetopNav]

So now we'll send the "oldest and worst airplanes" to Little Rock to replace the what, younger and more capable E's headed to the Boneyard??? Gotta love politicians...

[Lkuest]

So now we'll send the "oldest and worst airplanes" to Little Rock to replace the what, younger and more capable E's headed to the Boneyard??? Gotta love politicians...

Don't worry. They're just squeezing the last bit of life out of the E's, though I don't know where you're going with saying the E's are younger and more capable. They are older, and the wings are coming up on their time. We are retiring them left and right for high-time. We are "scheduled" to get our first H's in the next fiscal year at the training squadron, and I believe that goes for AMC too. Our first rumor was that we were getting the Dyess H's, but the latest rumor is we are getting Guard H-2's. Basically, no one knows exactly what is going to happen until it happens, so more to come on that. They are also "talking" about pushing forward with the AMP mods on all H-2's and above, same with the NP2000 prop, but they haven't decided if ARK ANG is going to be the exclusive training unit for those or if the Reserve or Active Duty will pitch in with AMP training. There are lots of changes coming in the Herk world right now, and I'm sure much of it will benefit the fleet. As far as I know, the driver behind all this change other than wing fatigue and keeping a smaller supply footprint supporting all different models, is to allow the fleet to fly through European airspace (new nav restrictions established and enforced) while at the same time modernizing the fleet for increased reliability/capability. The E's would cost too much to modify to European standards and at the same time repair the wings and maintain 40+ year old airframes. To put this into context, besides our B-52 fleet, the C-130 has the oldest average fleet in the inventory, excluding the very small fleets of very special aircraft.

BTW, Gen. Schwartz is the first Herk pilot to serve as Chief of Staff.

[StovetopNav]

Was an attempt at sarcasm...the baseline argument for the Js has been E replacement for as long as I can remember. The strength of TX CODELs rerouted the J to Dyess as opposed to Little Rock, where the last Es are. So they had to divert the H1s to Little Rock to replace Es (less capable -7 engines, older than '74 H1s). Politics. I was just making fun of the comments the politicians were making.

[bobdaley]

Saw on AFA news this AM, latest ploy, H's from Dyess to the AMC units at Little Rock.

Strip the Guard of 24+/- H2's for Little Rock AETC.

Bob

[RClark]

Norty is the first 130 driver to be chief of staff.

[StovetopNav]

Plan for several years has been for the Dyess H1s to all go to LR to replace their retiring Es. BUT, looks like the brainiacs in DC would now rather retire 19 Dyess Hs and "reallocate" H2s from the ANG/AFRC to fill the AETC void at LR. I'm sure that will work out perfectly and none of the units will mind...HA! Good luck with that plan!

Charlie West has already started the "oh no you don't" campaign, just a matter of time before the other states follow suit.

[bobdaley]

Here is the latest Grab!

[polcat]

As I have an assignment to the 62nd, it's good that they'll be getting H2s. However, The H1s would be better suited for AETC duty. I joke with my buds that although I'll be at the Rock, I'd be flying Dyess H1s with prior Dyess aircrew. Besides, has anyone ever tried to teach a new stud how to fly SKE wing on an H2 without the PPI/DVST and the "old-school" ADI? Personally, I didn't care too much for the H2, but it does have a toilet!

[RZHill]

Let them take ALL of the acft from the AIR FORCE RESERVE!! Isn't that what " RESERVE" means?

This problem started 35 years ago when the AD decided the 130 could fly forever and new acft wern't needed. The Guard had started to replace acft in fiscal 78 as the EXPERIENCED folks knew that the airframes would reach a time that it would be impossible to fiscally support these airframes.

I remember one Meeting with Sen Byrd in 76 after we got our E's from the far east and spent more money on them than enough to purchase at least 4 new acft, we talked to Sen Byrd and his reply from the AF was that they were the same as the Active was flying. Well that doesn't make it ok and at least the powers to be were smart enough to start replacing the acft.

This set 62-1784- 62-1824 has flown as trainers at Little Rock since 86 and I would be proud to fly on one today. , BUT they are tired. Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

If this goes forward, The acft will be junk in a period of four months, definitely not to Guard Standards.

What is to happen with the crews in the units affected, These folks are COMBAT READY, are they to be thrown on the street like a used rubber? And if you have the one weekend a month and two weekends a year mentality I've got a bridge I will sell you.

Dang politicians don't know crap about the differences in these acft.

What a nitemare , every unit has differences and taking acft from 79 to 90 is the work of an idiot. The parts difference is a nitemare.

Th Air farce has already taken one acft from Charlie West for the AMP Program. Look at that one, can't use it, no support . Do they think Charlie West breeds them and all they have to do is wait a couple of years and go get another one? Friggin Idiots. We have already given them 8 dam good acft 88-1302-88-1308 for the "w".

Heavy training load, on what looks like it is on the "j" fleet that you need the trainers.

The GUARD has the bulk of the H2's and H3's. Also there is a mix here of h2 & h3 acft.

LR should straighten their Maintenance out to keep more acft in comission. I'm not banging the worker bee"s just supervision and supply.

Once again the idiots in Dc have proven their complete ignorance.

The units affected barely have enough flying time allocated to keep the crews trained and stripping airframes is stupid. Don't they think these units have acft down for ISO and Depot? I can remember 6000 hours per year for training, not including the time spent on the various rotations oversease and Jatt.

Once again we will take to the street in hopes of talking some sense into the Idiots.

RZ HIll RETIRED 130TH engineer

Edited April 18, 2010 by RZHill
spelling , as usual

[bobdaley]

Having been in both Reserve and Guard 130 units I partially agree with RZ.

However, the Reserve also did as the Guard did and lobbied for new H models to replace their A's and E's.

The best solution is buy enough J models to let the active duty ship H's to AETC. If they aren't going to do that, close a couple of Reserve units. It makes no sense to have these huge establishments just to support 6 airplane squadrons.

Back in 72 we stripped 32 A models out of the Guard and Reserve, 16 a piece, for our "Vietnamization Project" Enhance Plus. It left some units with only 5 aircraft. Everyone went non current. Talk about a hollow force.

Trying to count up back in 71, Active Duty wise we had 3 squadrons at Langley, 3 at Pope, 3 at Dyess, 3 at Little Rock(2 school Squadrons), 2 at Forbes, 3 at Lockbourne, 1 at Elmendorf, 4 at CCK, 4 at Clark and 4 at Naha, before the drawdown, 31 squadrons, 29 hauling trash.

Now trash haulers there are 2 J's, one at Little Rock one at Ramstein, 4 H's 2 at Dyess, 1 at Yokota, 1 at Little Rock, 2 E's at Little Rock only 10 squadrons. I sure think they could buy two squadrons of J's and let the AETC folks have the old H's but if they don't want that, stripping units is a lousy way to go.

[Lkuest]

LR should straighten their Maintenance out to keep more acft in comission. I'm not banging the worker bee"s just supervision and supply.

I'm not trying to start trouble, but I'm not sure you are very informed as to how LR does maintenance, as opposed to what you are used to in the Guard or Reserve. When someone dimes out active duty like that, I feel I need to stand up to tell the other side's story.

I have worked with guard units before, and I am never going to bad-mouth their maintenance practices, they have always been very accomodating, but they are not the mythological creatures you make them out to be when compared to Active Duty maintainers. There are gems and germs wherever you work, and I can list some specific examples of problem aircraft we got from the guard. The GTC on 1824 was pissing all over the ground when we got it. 2358 came to us with a popped 627 filter button (good BPO crew chiefs), an engine that wouldn't rotate (loose cannon plug in the firewall), and FOD damage in the compressor. When we got 0520 and 0521 from their respective guard units, they both looked pretty, but they both turned into hangar queens immediately after they landed at LR due to electrical problems and other issues. That and the engine rigging was quite a bit off. I am not complaining about any of these things as they are normal problems with these aircraft, but when you mention aircraft not being up to "Guard Standards", I don't quite know what you mean. Because we have Technical Manuals governing all the maintenance we do, all the standards should be the same.

As far as LR straightening up our maintenance practices, I didn't know there was a problem. Two weeks ago we flew all the 40+ year old airplanes our aircrews could take, and we did it with a 100% MC rate. Not bad with the Active Duty's low standards. That doesn't even touch all the Air Force awards we win on a yearly basis such as the 2009 Maintenance Daedalian Award and the AF Outstanding Unit Awards we've won for about 6 of the last 7 years running, all because of our ability to put the ageing aircraft in the air and keep them there. Every time we have an ORI team come through, they leave impressed with our maintenance practices. Maybe they have low standards too.

If you want to look at people to blame for retiring aircraft early, you might want to look at the aircrews. Every time you land an airplane hard, overtorque the motors, or loose flying events due to not understanding the aircraft instruments and limitations, you add EBH time to the aircraft that you didn't need to, which is what ultimately grounds aircraft. There is nothing we can do about that. Several years ago, we retired 64-0519 due to high time. This was when we started the EBH program back up. We inspected all of our aircraft for wing cracks, and we didn't find any on 519, but we retired it anyway (still in use as a ground trainer). I don't know what Maintenance, Supervision, or supply could have done to keep that one flying. It's EBH time had come.

Like I said, I don't want to start any trouble, but when you stand on your soap box bashing Active Duty's maintenance practices, you should probably make sure your soap box isn't full of hot air.

[RZHill]

HMMMM , haven't seen a Guard or reserve unit maintainence squadron in a flight Line Brawl Yet.

Glad to see the ad maint has gotten better in the ten years I have been gone.

RZ Hill