larry myers

Respectfully ask the Cpt. to go to the club and if you need him you'll call.

When I arrived at CCK Jan. 71, believe the acft. assigned count was somewhere around the 70/75 number. A good estimate can be made by the number of TASs assigned the wing. Don't remember for sure but believe there were four. I was in OMS but know there are many many crew dawgs here that know for sure the number and what sqds they were. In any case for each TAS there would have been 18 acft. assigned. 16 primary aircraft assigned (PAA) and two not otherwise authorized (NOA). Have no idea how E flight acft. were accounted for.

Jeez Jansen, wish I'd said that. Hit the nail on the head.

Oh yea....Think I probably bought one of each. Only thing left is the flokati rug from Athens and a gold puzzle ring from Adana. The one thing I didn't buy was a Persian rug. Was in a Terhan rug shop and the old shop keeper told me I could give it to my son and he could give it to his son and if it wore out bring it back and he would give my money back. Wonder how many kids we kept busy in those back alley shops making all the junk, oops sorry, treasures that we hauled half way around the world home.

Ken, Before PDM there was IRAN. Inspect and Repair As Necessary.

Leslie, No such thing as a stupid question. Ask away. If you can't get an answer here, it doesn't exist. There is probably more C-130 knowledge here than anywhere on the planet. And unlike some other forums very little bs here.

Don, What a great photo!! Brought a big smile. A typical TAC herk ground crew that would do what ever it takes to get thier acft in the air. And led by a caring professional crew chief. Where would the zipper suited gods be with out the grunts in the photo? My falling-off-the-wing story involves a B-47 and a stubborn acft. commander. It was winter and the wing was very slippery. I had serviced the tanks myself and was confident they were full. Although I advised otherwise, he was insistant that he must ensure the water/alcohol tanks were full. The only way to do this was to remove the cap/s and peer into the tank. The acft. had two 300 gal. tanks accessed on top of the wing near each wing root. I was my job to stay with the AC as he preflighted the acft. so, like a dumb ass, I followed him up the wing. As we approached the fuseledge he begain to slide off. I grabbed him but he begain to drag me with him. I thought why am I allowing him to drag me off the wing, so I released my grip and he fell off the trailing edge of the flap and broke his leg. Ops took the cx. for this sortie.

Tiny, Did the AF hire a replacement?

West bound several hours out of Ladjes when the engine instrument lights failed. The FE askes me to replace the fuse. Thought he was kidding but he wasn't. Told him I would watch him change it. We landed with the lights inop.

Often wondered how usless systems such as stall warning and 463L weight & balance got so far as to be installed on the acft. LMs didn't trust it and maintenance could not keep it operational. Each landing gear axle had a very fragile transducer glued to the inside of the axle. Firm/hard touchdowns would break one or more of these transducers.

Y'all don't want to hear what I think about the in-flight fire guard community. Although after about 14 years in the herk busness I did have a couple of FE friends.

I recall the 151890 accident. If memory serves the #1 fuel boost pump AC circuit breakers popped and the crew repeatedly attempted to reset them. As a result a fire erupted in the #1 main fuel tank. It was only through some outstanding airmanship the crew was able to crash land the acft with all crew members surviving, as flynavymike stated. As a result of this accident the AF published a supplement to the -1 stating if fuel bp cbs pop do not attempt the reset them. Kind of makes sense.

Bob, In those days when I was about 40, yea, I thought 64 was a geezer. These days, however, I am that geezer. In fact I could be considered a geezer/1c. :D

We had a saying, "when all else fails read the TO". Comparing civil aviation A&P techs with blue suit techs is like comparing apples and oranges. The same can be said of the equipment they maintain. In many instances, civilian A&P techs unlike AF techs, work on airplanes until they retire. How often have you seen a white haired AF tech bending a wrench, (except in Guard/Reserve units)? I was part of an AF DT&E flight test team working with contractor techs, the oldest of whom was 64 years old. I'll never forget watching this old geezer climbing a tall maintenance stand to r & r a top of the vertical fin anti-collision light. This old boy told me he had been working on acft. since he was 17 in the Army Air Corps. I remember turning in my tool box when I made MSgt at 36. Further, the difference in qualifications/experience can be seen in civil tech data compared to AF tech data. Whereas civil tech data is general in nature, AF tech data is very detailed. Writing AF tech data could be difficult as the tasks had to be written at the 8Th grade level. Remember getting new troops fresh from tech school who still didn't know the difference between a box end and an open end wrench. In fairness to the young troops, tech training in the AF is, for the most part, nonexistent. After very basic five or six week initial tech school, and later, if your lucky, you may get to attend an FTD or two. Oh, almost forgot the 7 level training at Sheppard where AETC crams one week of training into two. Sorry, after reading all the posts on this thread mine is kind of off topic. Will try to do better next time.

I've done it both ways. Recall installation of outboard leading edges much more difficult if the acft had been moved. Seems to me loading the wing with fuel would result in much the same result. One one occasion after the acft. had been moved and we couldn't get the fasteners to line up we ended up unloading the outboard wing by shoring it. Don't remember what if any TO guidance existed. Have you researched current tech data, talked to QA, queried WR-ALC? Hopefully one to the WR-ALC depot maintenance guys will read the thread and enlighten us as to how the depot deals with the issue. I like Dan's idea. If they insist they get to do the install. And you can stand on the hanger floor and shout at the top on your lungs, " I told you so".

Reminds me of an old girlfriend.

Perhaps, but am reminded of the Dover C-5 crash. Here two highly qualified, high time SNCO FEs, watched as a heavy weight C-5 was flown below the glide path on final, the AC advanced the number two engine throttle (eng. shutdown), #3 throttle retarded and the airspeed bled off the about 125 knots at impact and they did almost nothing. In the Elmendorf crash wasn't there was a third pilot? Was he loudly expressing concern about how the acft. was being flow? Why is it that practicing for air shows crews think it's OK to fly the acft. out of the envelope? Watching the video reminds me of the Fairchild B-52 crash, surprise, during an air show. Don't think all this has to do with FEs, think it has to do with crew members doing their job when another crew member does something not iaw the book. Having said the above, am reminded of a FE friend (no kidding, I did have one or two) who told me a big part of his job was to ensure the AC didn't kill him and the rest of the crew.

Ah, good old 5BX. Another sterling AF program. In 1957 I was a 22 year old A/2c doing my 5BX, running the track behind an old MSgt, when he had a heart attack, fell down, and died right in front of me. Had never seen anyone die so it was very disconcerting. This experience pretty much formed my opinion of 5BX for the remainder of my career. Although physical fitness seems a very simple issue the AF continually tweaked it throughout my career and, in fact, still doesn't have it right. Recently, there was a requirement, now rescinded, that everyone have a 32 inch waist. You don't have to be an expert to understand how dumb that was. Yet senior leaders allowed this to become part of the AFI. Certainly makes one wonder. The issue that pissed me off the most, other than the uselessness of the program, was the inconstant enforcement. One sqd. ran it by the book while the next sqd. penciled whipped it. As an adjunct to 5BX was everyone's favorite, the fat boy program. Again, my bitch was inconsistent enforcement. Didn't think it quite fair that one of my NCOs was being reduced in grade when the overweight chaplain was not even on the program. The chiefs group discussed this issue with the wing commander, and it got better. My view about all the above BS is the AF spends too much time, effort and money on things that do nothing to increase readiness. Idea-- Perhaps the AF should consider installing a USMC Gunny in each sqd. to run phys. fitness. Rant over.

trev, Very glad to hear you are ok. Bob's concern just shows how much troops on the website keep track and care for each other. I'm sure the damage to 70-ADD hurts a lot knowing how much blood, sweat, and tears you have in her. Myers

My view is use the landing lites at whatever airspeed you wish. If they break, I'll fix them.

Departing Athens early morning. Entire crew suffering some degree of hangover. Although we often overflew Athens we seldom got to ron there. As such we took full advantage of Greek hospitality. Therefore the -6 and -1 preflights were somewhat abbreviated. As we were taxing I was standing behind the AC looking down and noticed the nlg downlock (the big one) was not in its usual place. Most FEs placed it on the flight deck floor to their left. But some would stow it behind the flt. deck ladder. So looked, but not there either. Tapped the FE on the shoulder and asked if he had removed it. Got the deer in the headlights look. Told him not worry would take care of it. So went in back told the scanner of the problem. Asked him to get on the intercom and advise the flt. deck there seemed to be fluid coming from number two engine fwd. mast. By this time was back on intercom on the flt. deck. Quickly keyed the mic and offered to get out and check the problem. When we got to the eor run-up pad I got out removed the downlock. Got back on the acft., advised everything OK and off we went. Needless to say, after that, whenever that FE and I were at the bar I didn't buy much beer. He was especially gratefull as his AC was not an understanding fellow.

Don, When the Reserve Forces transfered two squadrons of 130As to the VNAF two of them were early As with APS 42 radar. Don't remember the details but those two acft. were subsequently returned and exchanged for APN 59 birds.

Going through security when departing Israel you are questioned seperately at length by two young Israelis. They ask the same questions differently and you had better provide same answers. On one trip the security female asked why I had traveled through Frankfort on my way to Israel. I responded, because I was a Delta frequent flyer, and at the time, Frankfort was the only Delta connection to Tel Aviv. There was a trainee standing nereby. She interupted asking the first security female, in Herbrew, what frequent flyer meant. I had to chuckle over that interchange. Sometime passing through security would take five minutes, other times not uncommon to spend 30 40 minutes answering questions, sometimes from as many as four people. The Israelis don't have a problem with profiling. If you even faintly resemble an Arab don't expect quick pass though. I watched security search an Arab grand mother, opening every Pamper and spreading every piece of her luggage on the terminal floor. Also, easy to id Arab vehicles as their number plate is a different color than an Israelis. Israel airport securiy uses profiling as a major component of thier program...and it works. Anyone remember the last incident involving an El Al acft? Ask any senior Israeli airport security person what they think of our esteemed Homeland Security program and, if they know you well, they will tell you it's stupid.

Geez, another really smart move by the air force ---landing lites with two different airspeed limitations. Am trying to understand why the requirement is different depending on whether it's a 62, 74 or an 08. Seems to me that when the 250 kias lite became available the IPB would say use the 165 kias lite until exhausted and note same the 781. If I'm the Production Super., AMU chief, or AGS chief, rest assured all my acft. would have the 250 kias lites. I know the usable on code will perhaps not allow the req. to process but there are ways around this. When the 165 lite is returned to overhaul is it modified to the 250 configuration? Bottom line, is it a big deal if the placard is exceeded on the 165 lite? Not like, for example, gear extended limitation.

Don, During my tour in the 7406th from 62 to 66 don't remember any of our acft. painted day-glo. When I arrived in the unit our acft. were unpainted except for the tail which was red. At some point during the latter half on my tour, acft. begain to return from mod still unpainted except for the tail which was now painted gray.