Plaprad

Do Cobras even have TCAS? I always assumed they didn't because of their altitude.

That's SOP nowadays. When I was a FCC, I was listed as crew for about the first three missions I flew, then some Colonel said that Maintainers would not be listed as aircrew and we would be listed as PAX. I got twice as many missions needed for an Aerial Achievement medal, but can't get one since I'm listed as a passenger on all my orders. Seems like the Air Force has really put taking care of people on the back burner the past ten years. I have friends still in who have the same issues.

Yeah, I think I'll leave the VOR to the specialists. I'll go do something Crew Chiefy in the flight deck. Lemme know when you guys are done.

Benson tanks I have no idea, never worked them. As for the flight stations, they start just forward of the nose. The tip of the nose is FS 30, all the way to 1202 ish, of course it all changes according to model and mods. The aft end of the troop doors are at 737 where the ramp begins. As for stretched aircraft, I havn't a clue.

Whatever happened to the combat badge the Air Force was talking about? I remember them going nuts over introducing one a few years back.

Depends SEFE, how fast can you flip a switch.

Had one guy the other day turn on pitot heat with the covers on. Someone else wrote it up for him and wrote it up as "Pitot heat applied with covers on, ***** did it." putting the name of another guy, then next to it the other guy pu "No the hell I didn't, it was *****." Surprised no one said anything.

I heard this story in Tech school. Our Instructor told us it was a slick in Vietnam that spent it's days hauling bodies to Japan to go home. After the war it was converted into a Gunship. He said one night on mids he got stuck pulling the batteries for a wash. No power unit and the battery was sitting on the crew door when he looked up and saw every light on the plane blood red. That's when he learned the history behind it. At least that's what he told us, but it wouldn't surprise me for it to be true. I remember at Charlotte we had 92-1455, and Dyess has 74-1666, both planes had "Personality" to say the least. More than a few four letter words were uttered in their presence.

Great stuff, been looking for this video for years. Now when are the Four Horsemen making a comeback?

Last I heard that ladder for climbing the stab is illegal now, apparently too many people fell off. I've only seen one and that was at tech school nine years ago.

Nc, Byron is where I live, bout ten minutes from base, nice area. There's also Kathleen and Bonaire, both a bit closer to the south. About the only place you don't want to live is right off base and up in Bibb county.

I think I heard many moons ago that the beacon was moved to the fusalage because too many people got hurt changing bulbs on toop of the stab. Not entirely sure that's the only reason. I've actually seen several aircraft that have both, I found that interesting. Also newer planes still have the mounts for one up there, though not sure if a wiring harness still goes up there. As for the flashers, I always thought that was a requirement. We mostly use them for ground runs, but I've seen crews use them in air. I always assumed that as some sort of FAA requirement or something. Be something to look up.

I rode the rollers in the desert in an empty box one time. The load told the AC what I was doing and all of a sudden the ride got quite interesting.

Has anyone heard what unit is getting J models next? There's a rumor at work that it would be Dyess, and with Pope gone I'm inclined to believe it.

We had one flying into Bagram. We were going from cruising altitude to the ground real fast. Fast enough that the empty water bottle I was holding started to crush from the pressure changes. I spent the whole time watching the bottle thinking how cool it was until I looked across the C/C. We were also flying two ladies from AAFES to start the BX there, both in their 40's and 50's. Both ladies were staring at the bottle with their mouths open and eyeballs bugging out. By the time we landed one had fainted. I actually feel a little bad, but it was pretty funny. We chatted once we got on the ground and I explained it was nothing to worry about, they said they never thought anything like that could happen.

In the desert we never used bamboo, we used coke cans and duct tape Not really a stupid question, most of the stuff is in different books, there isn't one "Wartime Manual" that I know of.

Is that a civilian mod? I like it, nice and clean.

Had 023 at Robins a while back. Was the first plane I worked when I got to Functional Test.

Scratch last, I found some H3 Nav station pics, and what appears to be a E or early H model.

I remember on Mids, when someone fell asleep in the flight deck with power on, we'd plug it in, hold it a few inches from the back of their neck and do a few quick flashes with it. Everyone woke up real quick.

To be honest, I have no idea. I found the picture on the web a few months ago. Mt, the flight deck for most Herks is the same as the E Model, Still got a navs desk, bunks, Galley ect. I would get a pic of one, but there's some equipment there I don't think I need to put online. I'm sure there's a few online, I'll look later. Though some Talons have a double sized navs desk with two stations and no bunk. Also, if I remember correctly, J models have the galley up on the flight deck, not at the entrance. As for sextants, I havn't seen one in years, there might be a plane that still has them. The sextant mount is still on most planes, but somewhere slong the H3 line they got rid of them.

Got a couple of H3's, my personal fave. And also one of the MC-130W. We also have a couple different ones at work, I'll try to remember to get some shots of them too.

What are those little black dots in front of the APU and Deflector door?

You just reminded me of one I heard. Can't remember who it happened too, or when it was, but was before my time. Apparently there was a guy who loved cigars, when he went to Kuwait he bought up most of the Cubans in the country and smoked them all the time, he also spent about three hundred on one and decided to light it up on the way home. A few months later it was time to leave and he took a 130 back.Once they took off and were at cruise, he asked to flight crew if they would mind him firing it up with the sextant port open, they said it was ok, just get all the smoke out. So this fella opened the sextant port and light it up. He just got the flame going and held it up to suck out the smoke when it got sucked out and was never seen again. Three hundred dollars out the plane without so much as a puff. Needless to say, I always waited till I got home to fire one up.

JSTARS are having the same issues over flying in Europe. Last I read in the base paper was they were updating the radios to become compliant. Just doesn't seem to me that we need all these pretty lights for a few things. Granted I think AMP looks good, but I just don't really see how it's very necessary. By the time all the planes are modded I'm betting they're going to be going to the bone yard just like the 141's and A-6's.