C-130 Lifestyle.......

frog_flyer said:
I will say one thing that's positive about the Herc over Fred:

On their transatlantic trips, they take 2 or 3 stops in kick ass places. St. Johns, and I think I recall hearing Ryekidivivivick. However you spell that Iceland city. All this whereas Freddy blasts off and does the trip straight through, mx permitting. :)

C130s do 4 month rotations in the desert. AFRC used to allow units to split their rotation, IE one crew do 2 months, then swap them, but I heard that they're trying to can that. BOHICA. Freddy guys do trips that are usually supposed to last 5-7 days, but can end up being several weeks if you break and TACC decides it's more cost effective to leave a crew in Hawaii, Guam, or Germany on Man Days collecting per diem than it is to just send the part needed. Tough luck there. :bandit:

How'd the Bradley interview go? And "2" on wannago's question.
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No joke. That trip to Germany lasted 34 days, 30 broke in Spangdahlem alone! While I made enough per diem over there to pay my car off, our wing is now out of mandays almost altogether! TACC couldn't have cared less, because it wasn't their mission, and since we were a reserve trainer on a depositioning leg, we were about as low priority as they come and maintenance was constanting being pulled off our jet to work higher priority missions heading downrange. It took two star generals getting involved before people got their act together and got us fixed.

On another mission in the CONUS, we needed a MICAP part that could have fit in a small box. Instead of overnighting the part to us, they shipped it second-day air so they could save $20, resulting in an extra hotel bill for 15 crewmembers, extra perdiem, and extra basic pay (less the ARTs). I even volunteered to jumpseat home and pick up the part myself; the whole process would have taken about 8 hours. But no, that was thinking too far outside the box. :rolleyes:

Bottom line. If you want lots of time off to drink beer and go fishing, Fred is the way to go! :D

Hacker15e said:
The Herk guys actually get to log flying hours, though, rather than just collect per diem while the airplane sits on the ramp broken.
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Who ever said collecting perdiem on a paid vacation to Europe was such a bad gig?
:nana2:

Herkyload1 said:
This has been around in various formats. But this one is relevant for this thread.....

Dover AFB, DE-
A National Guard C-130 Hercules landed here early this morning winning an unprecedented cross-country race with a strategic airlift C-5. The Galaxy is expected in late tomorrow following a delay when the aircraft toilet could not be repaired within four hours of scheduled takeoff at Peterson Field, CO.

The race, run between Travis AFB, CA and Dover AFB, DE was dubbed the "Mission-Hacker's Marathon" and was filled with planned command-post obstacles throughout the 10-base route. The race required each aircraft to go through the various locations and upload/download cargo and personnel under challenging conditions.
The Galaxy’s crew was contacted at Peterson Field just before entering crew rest with the toilet problem. The C-5's aircraft commander stated "We knew it was a critical time for such a malfunction, and it probably cost us the race, but what could we do. . .it just wouldn't flush." "Please congratulate the C-130 crew for us," she added.

The Hercules had been running approximately four bases ahead of the Galaxy throughout the race due to various turns of events. At the very first station, the C-5 crew took off two hours late when fleet service failed to bring creamer for the coffee. Forced to remain overnight at their next stop due to a runway that unfortunately closed following a C-17 landing gear up, the Galaxy crew was thrown even further behind when they refused rooms they considered substandard. "The decor in that hotel was atrocious. I mean, there were green curtains with blue carpet," the aircraft commander fumed, adding that "Pretty soon, they'll expect us to sleep in tents!" The acceptable hotel rooms were 75 miles from the base however, and forced a late takeoff the following day.

At one point in the race it appeared the strategic airlift crew had turned the race around when a protest filed by the crew's parent wing commander, Col Norman Schaule, was accepted by the Navy's Ltjg Jack W. Shelton, Jr. "I thought it unfair that the valid delays we took should penalize us when the C-130 crew was virtually invulnerable to them," explained Col Schaule regarding the protest. "I mean, Herk crews drink yesterday's coffee and don't even care if they sleep in a bed. They just don't understand the philosophy of modern stratigic airlift. You can't compete with that type of mentality," he finished.

Once the protest was accepted, the C-130 was forced to fly the remainder of the race with the ramp down, the door open and pulling deployed A22 chutes behind the aircraft. The C-5 began to make up ground rapidly and actually tied the Hercules on the seventh stop despite another fleet service delay (no salad dressing in the box lunches). The telling blow, however, came in Colorado.

The C-130 aircraft commander, Lt I. M. Parochial, namesake of his granpaw, was interviewed after the flight. "Shucks, I'm just glad I could win this one for granddaddy," the 125 hour aircraft commander said, happily adding, "you know, we were really lucky because the same things that happened to the other crew could have happened to us.
Luckily, however, none of us had any money to buy any coffee or box lunches, 'cause we lost it all in a poker game just before the race. I can really sympathize with their toilet problem too, because our loadmaster forgot to bring the plastic liners for the "honey bucket" and we couldn't even use ours. As for the rooms, we brought our tents with us. Guess you could just say we got lucky on this one."
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Good one! It's not easy keeping a crew of 14-20 happy! I've never heard so much whining, griping, and complaining about having to stay in an air conditioned room, hot food, and a warm shower, because the hotel next door is a 5-star!
 
I'll never forget the day (pre dawn) that we landed and Andrews and the C-5 crew tried to head to the hotel without downloading our Helos. Our OIC (Major) told us not to set foot off the airplane and start breaking down chains while he and the Pilot (Capt) "discussed" the matter.

I offered to kneel the bird and deploy the ramp for the loadmasters if they were so tired from their flight (durring which they slept 90% of the flight). My kind sugestion did NOT go over well.

After several angry phone calls to the WH mill office, the loadmasters got an extension to their "crew day".


However NOTHING tops the day we kicked the Thunderbirds out of their hangar! Their CO was PISSED!
 
This is all very good info!
Does anyone care to compare J model 130s to an H model as far as lifestyle and mission?
The reason I ask is I understand the J isn't allowed to do certain missions (maybe not as suitable) that the H's are performing?
For instance dirt strip landings in the J??? But then again the J's have A/R. So that seems it would change its mission as well....
I'm not looking to sandbag either one. I'd love to be flying either.
Thanks
 
USMCmech said:
I'll never forget the day (pre dawn) that we landed and Andrews and the C-5 crew tried to head to the hotel without downloading our Helos. Our OIC (Major) told us not to set foot off the airplane and start breaking down chains while he and the Pilot (Capt) "discussed" the matter.

I offered to kneel the bird and deploy the ramp for the loadmasters if they were so tired from their flight (durring which they slept 90% of the flight). My kind sugestion did NOT go over well.

After several angry phone calls to the WH mill office, the loadmasters got an extension to their "crew day".
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Just out of curiousity, how long had they been on duty? There are limitations.
 
germb747 said:
Just out of curiousity, how long had they been on duty? There are limitations.
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I think it had been 10 hours, and the download was projected to take 2.5 more. Meanwhile, us Jarheads had been on the go for 36 with about 12 more to go. Since we had seen most of the loadmasters snoozing durring the flight, their cries of fatigue did not fall on sympethtic ears.

At HMX-1 we were tasked with 100% aircraft availability (other than schedualed inspections) so we had to stay on duty untill the birds were reassembled and test flown.
 
USMCmech said:
I think it had been 10 hours, and the download was projected to take 2.5 more. Meanwhile, us Jarheads had been on the go for 36 with about 12 more to go. Since we had seen most of the loadmasters snoozing durring the flight, their cries of fatigue did not fall on sympethtic ears.

At HMX-1 we were tasked with 100% aircraft availability (other than schedualed inspections) so we had to stay on duty untill the birds were reassembled and test flown.
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A basic C-5 crew is limited by regulation to an 18 hour crew duty day for safety and fatigue mitigation, including offload at the destination. If certain additional crewmembers are carried, and if certain other requirements are met, the duty day can last up to 24+45. The duty day would have begun 3+15 before scheduled takeoff time (for flight planning, mission prep, etc) and ended when the crew was finished with the download and entered into crew rest. Based on the information you provided, and without knowing any other factors affecting the crew's decision, they would have had ample duty day remaining to complete the task. But since I wasn't there, I can't speak for them. I do know that the majority of aircrews are willing to go above and beyond and bust their butts to get the mission done safely and legally; that's not to say that there aren't two percenters out there.
 
kaudbron said:
Does anyone care to compare J model 130s to an H model as far as lifestyle and mission?
The reason I ask is I understand the J isn't allowed to do certain missions (maybe not as suitable) that the H's are performing?
For instance dirt strip landings in the J??? But then again the J's have A/R. So that seems it would change its mission as well....
Thanks
Click to expand...

Lifestyle and mission are the same. As with any new airframe there were limitations to the J model during the test phase, but now there aren't any limitations that I am aware of. I was a loadmaster on both E model and J model herks and have been on plenty of dirt in the J. In fact, in certain areas in the Middle East we were tasked with missions that the E/Hs were not because of the better performance with the J model.

If you are referring to aerial refueling, only specific C-130s are A/R - not necessarily J models.
 
Gotcha thanks for the reply. And yes I was referring to refueling, I didn't know legacies had that capability.
 
Kato said:
Lifestyle and mission are the same. As with any new airframe there were limitations to the J model during the test phase, but now there aren't any limitations that I am aware of. I was a loadmaster on both E model and J model herks and have been on plenty of dirt in the J. In fact, in certain areas in the Middle East we were tasked with missions that the E/Hs were not because of the better performance with the J model.

If you are referring to aerial refueling, only specific C-130s are A/R - not necessarily J models.
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Us legacy guys would say we could still do the mission better....slower and lower, but better! :D
 
frog_flyer said:
I will say one thing that's positive about the Herc over Fred:

On their transatlantic trips, they take 2 or 3 stops in kick ass places. St. Johns, and I think I recall hearing Ryekidivivivick. However you spell that Iceland city. All this whereas Freddy blasts off and does the trip straight through, mx permitting. :)
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Not completely true. If fuel weight is sacrificed for cargo weight, even Freddy has to make a pit stop. Why anyone would look forward to a night in Reykajvik is beyond me. Gander sucks too. Kinda liked Lajes if you made it in for the bull run weekend.

You are gonna hate me Eng, but I gotta tell another Freddy joke:

2 C-5s are sitting on the ramp at Ramstein. One is on jack stands the other is sitting normally. How come?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.They only had one set of jackstands:buck:
 
Oh and if you get a Load gig on the 130, you could end up at Dyess AFB. Do you know what Dyess stands for? (Any AF guy should know this one)
 
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