I recall being told about this incident in about 1973-74. My first operational assignment out of NAV school was to the 48th TAS at Forbes. When Forbes was closed, the 48th transferred to Little Rock. I "traded" with another NAV and went with the 47th TAS to Dyess (we became the 774th TAS). I must have been told about this incident by someone who was still with the (former) 48th TAS at Little Rock. To the best of my recollection-----
Three C-130Es from the (former) 48th out of Little Rock went to Pope AFB to demonstrate our capabilities of LAPES dropping three Army tanks with Army and Air Force Generals in attendance. One of the drops worked as it should have. During another drop, the tank tumbled down the drop zone and was destroyed.
The third drop was the subject of this thread. My understanding is that the NAV was on "hot mike" when he called "green light" for the tank to be released. The co-pilot turned on the green light switch. However, the loadmaster did not have his "hot mike" switch activated, so he did not hear the NAV say "green light." As we know, the loadmaster was not supposed to release a load until he both heard "green light" and saw the green light. Since he did not hear "green light" he did not release the tank. After a few seconds, the AC realized the tank had not been released. So, he started a climb to get some altitude for safety reasons. However, at about 300-400 feet, he said, "Load, did you hear 'green light'?" The green light was still on and now the loadmaster also heard "green light," so he released the tank. Result: The second tank of the day destroyed. Not a good day.........
Crew error was the finding. I recall it was a fundamental rule for the aircrew that the words "green light" were never to be used during a drop mission except by the NAV when calling for the "green light" to actually drop a load.
