polcat

Nah, it was a pretty small affair. No GO to deliver the aircraft. However, the 19 MXG/CC delivered it.

5732/34/38 are Little Rock birds. Little Rock still has 6 more to go.

The 62nd is not an associate unit in the traditional sense. They are still flying with the 154th. The next commander will close the 62nd.

No, 5756 isn't our final J. Next one is being delivered in the springtime. Unfortunately, the 41st has received a couple of the new Js and we've gotten some of the old ones. Part of this is because their AMU has more experience with the J than ours. At least our AMU is supposed to get the remaining new Js from now on.

Yes, the 53rd is done.

Little Rock's H3s are now all gone.

41st and 61st are now all J and the 61st is still receiving airplanes. We have half as many as the 41st. The 53rd will deactivate sometime this summer. The 50th remains the primary H squadron, but they have about half a dozen Hs. Surprisingly, they have more H1s than H3s. 62nd is still around, but is interflying with the 154th in the legacy FTU. AFRC is now a numbered unit, they are the 913AG and interfly with the 50th. They have H2s, but the 50th guys and gals haven't been flying them. I think all but one of they're H2s have yet to receive the new tail flash.The day of the H has pretty much come to a close. Whether or not the Keesler J's come to Little Rock is still up in the air.

Yes, each engine has dual FADECs. However, only one is used at a time. The J has "power levers" instead of throttles without the need for condition levers. The beauty of the FADECs is that I can slam the power levers full forward, which we do for every takeoff, and never have to worry about over-temping or over-torqueing an engine. Re-synching the props and reduced power takeoffs are also not required in the J.

Little Rock has almost divested itself of all of its H1s and H3s. There are about 4-5 of each remaining. The tail transfer seemed to happen quite quickly.

That is as correct as anyone can be. AFRC at LRF is still assisting with the FTU, but not to the degree that it used to. In fact, the AFRC guys are supposed to take control over the 50AS's current building. I can see that the transition to the J will be just like when AFRC stood up here at couple of years ago and opened the doors to just-seperated or about-to-be seperated AD guys. Only time will tell what the final verdict will be.

Here's the skinny. In the 19AW, the 41st AS is all J and the 61st AS is almost all J. The 61st should be an all J unit (personnel) by the end of the FY, but will not have its full compliment of tails yet. The 50th and 53rd are still flying H3s, H1s, and 1 or 2 Super E's. In the 314th AW, the 48th is J and the 62nd is augmenting the 189th AW with the legacy FTU mission. AFRC still has its fingers in the legacy FTU mission, but is moving to a TFI style unit with the 50th. All legacy FTU missions are H2s (79-91 tails). There is rumor that AFRC will go J here at Little Rock, but mind you there are no less than a dozen COA's for the slick J's coming out of Keesler. Only the future will tell. The biggest problem is that the AD is well overmanned with legacy crewmembers. I've been told that there will not be any AD crews going through the legacy FTU in FY15.

11-5728 is a C-130J-30. I don't know if Lockheed is keeping certain numbers with certain models.

The AETC bird goes to the 48 AS.

We still use it. However, even numbered aircraft (wingmen) are offset 500 ft to the right of their element leaders while odd aircraft (element leads) have 0 cross track. Gone are the days of the 3-ship element. Now it's the 2-ship element.

I'll help you out. Touchdown switch - eng ground stop, nacelle preheat, dump mast shutoff valves (63-7764 c/n [cn]3813[/cn] and up), SKE prox warning tone. Touchdown relay - landing gear control handle lock, wheel brakes (anti-skid), cockpit controls for ramp and cargo door, airdrop release, defensive systems, GCAS. Aux touchdown relay - GTC control power and door control, DC bus tie control, stall warn horn (deactivated), SCNS interface test inflight, and bottom strobe light.