Dave in WV

Thanks for the info. I knew the aft end was strengthened but was told the boards were to keep the air out of the empenage around and behind the cargo door. Trash haulers can open the cargo door only at 180 KIAS.

I knew the spec opcs birds had a higher open ramp and door speed than the trash haulers. IIRC there were some kind of shields to keep the air from coming up into the empanage from the sides of the ramp. Thanks for the info.

IIRC the ramp & door air speed is 150 KIAS. It would seem the fighters had to slow to near stall speed.

I remember when the oil shutoff valve CB's were pulled after flight. IIRC John Wilson told me when it was stopped there was an incident a shutoff valve stuck closed with the CB pushed in and the proceedure went away.

We used to have turbine overheat indication problems after the plances came off of the wash rack. Usually it was after engine start and if we knew the plane had just been washed we let it blink for a while and the problem went away after a few minutes.

After a decade of all of these Total Quality, Quality Awareness, Sigma Six, Lean Logistics, yada, yada, yada programs, training, comittees, seminars mother Air Force has this incessant need to rename everything. Supply is Logistics Readiness, Security Police is Force Protection, Personnel is Mission Support and on and on. Units are no longer identified in simple, clear terms. I guess the goal is name units in a way that the terrorists can't figure out what is really what.

Or us?

Oh how the days of MAC,TAC,SAC, AFR 35-10, gray and green C-130's, and the 55-130 were appreciated!

MacPuke, that's a good one.

Wasn't it a requirement for FE's to fill out a form "F" on our annual Check Rides? Seems like they taught it when I went through Sewart in 1970, but I'm not sure. Could have been a Sq. Policy, but I remember having to know how to fill them out.

Glenn

IIRC we had to learn to fill them out at Altus. I remember a weather bird FE coming over to our plane at Lajes and asking for help filling out a form F. He didn't have a load master to do it. Our loads fixed him up.

Loads had the slip stick, engineers had a told data wheel. I still have mine for the H model but we never used them as they were not accurate like the E model wheels.

Not C-130 humor but when I was active duty AF I worked transient alert. When we got a new guy we would show them how the boundry layer control on F-4s worked. After a F-4 sat in the rain the BLC ducts in the wing leading edge would fill with water. When the pilot dropped the flaps after cranking up the bleed air would blow the water out. We would have a new guy stand behind the wing and get soaked. You really did get to see how it workd.:eek:

What will happen is Congress will make the USAF/USN/USMC buy C-130s. How else did we get saddled with the J model. The AF didn't want it. They wanted more H2s. Lockheed went up on the hill and got their way with J models. The AF wanted a FE in the cockpit. They didn't get one. It will be the new tanker fiasco redux.

Welcome. I'm new here myself. I was an ANG FE for 21 years and never stopped learning. I honestly believe the saying "if you don't think there's anything left to learn,It's time to quit". There are some great folks here from all branches of service.

I remember the class room, the training sorties , the NCO club, Sam Ridley and a few motel rooms down the road. Met a couple ladies there that knew the Bold Face procedures better than most FEs.

Muff

I know a guy that probably taught the "ladies" the bold face procedures. :D

When we got E models at Charleston,WV, two were rumored to be "gray birds" at CCK. The tail #s were 62-1804 & 62-1824. The place where the national star insignia was on the empennage had what looked like nut plates to mount the emblems at one time.

I went through Altus for fixed wing performance at the same time Mike Christiano went through. He is/was their chief engineer the last I heard.

Several years ago we (130th AG) were in the same wing with the NY ANG C-130D unit at Schenectady,NY. Their commander came to our unit and gave us a briefing about their mission. He told us the JATO bottles being used were ones left from production in the 60's and they were having to mix and match them for the ice cap missions then and that was over 20 years ago. There was no plan for producing more.

Hey Dave, you still at the post office?

Milwaukee gained some acft from Chicago when they closed.

RZ

RZ, yup. We're having a gun show next week.:eek:

IMHO the "fix" of having FE's learn TERPS was not as good as other ways to deal with what happened. I still believe having a cockpit discussion about the obstacles, their height, position from runway heading, and distance from the end of runway would have been better. The climb gradient criteria cut the Herk's ability to do it's job. The FE's have charts for terrain clearance on three and four engines. I always knew it was my ass too so keeping up with terrain, obstacles, and things to avoid was in my best interest. Am I correct in my thinking? Maybe, maybe not but I'm now retired so I wasn't all wrong. It's sad to lose people, especially when it could have been avoided.

There were 16 1988 C-130H2's delivered. 8 to Milwaukee, 8 to Charleston,WV. IIRC Milwaukee lost an '88 H model in Honduras.

coaster, the USAF manual (used to be MACR 55-130) had a section in the FE chapter on how to do some of the emergency repairs and had the instructions on how to use the speed sensitive control jumper (BS plug). It wasn't bamboo used to plug holes. It was different sizes of wood dowel rod sharpened on one end and threaded to screw into wing tank holes to plug them . Scab patches were placed over fuselage holes and fuel cell sealant was used for a pressure seal and then rivited in place.

We had a pilot for a short while that always tried the engineers. He adjusted the cockpit cabin temp and looked back with a "whatta think of that" look. I reached up and selected manual control as soon as he turned around. He adjusted the temp a few more tries and then used the manual control for more heat and gave me the same look. I reached up, ran the temp full cold, pulled the Flight Deck Tep Control breaker (we were on an E model) and gave him the same look. After a while he asked, "eng, can I have some heat?". I said sure sir, all you have to do is ask. The co-pilot and Nav just shook their heads. He never learned.

Ge Dave did you ever go past Lajes?

RZ

Once, but I didn't like it. Too much friggin' sand! :eek:

Speakinging about short sighted, the SCNS goes though one card except for two things! I don't know if it's the same now but I never had confidence in that system to not really let me down. Over halfway to Lajes is a bad time to lose your nav systems. At least we had a sextant.

Good plan. We hit a fout point buck on a touch and go (full stopped) and it didn't break off the VHF antenna. He bent it back but didn't break it off all the way.

We didn't seem to have many silly write ups. I guess it was because the FE's wrote most things up so maint. would have a clue where to start. Now some of our "fixes" were good. I had a pilot complain about the icing warning light going off repeatedly and told me to do something about it.

I leaned forward and screwed the light lens and bulb out and told him to hold out his hand and then told him "don't lose it". He sat there for a second with a "I can't believe he did that" look on his face.:D

Plaprad, that's why there's a harness secured at the lower bunk for just such an occasion on USAF, USAFR, & ANG C-130's. On preflight the engineer is supposed (required) to check the harness for proper adjustment (fit) and length (keeps you in the plane). Our chief engineer got mad as hell at me because I would tie a loose knot in the tether so I could tell if the length had been messed with because some folks may not know what something is for but will mess with it anyway. To check a door you first depressurize the cabin and go aux vent on the AC control so the door won't blow open.