Stop start
I am just trying to get my head around this, you are telling me that on operations at the moment the aircraft (& crew) will fly for about 8-9 hours and then the aircraft is on the ground for the rest of the day.
Why ? I can understand maintenance down time, re-role etc but a down time of 15 hours a day for the aircraft seems very high, why do these things take so long to happen?
Is this down to lack of suport staff, engineers or parts? or are the airframes just past the sell by date?
I can understand that the military flying role is much more demanding than civil flying but I can't help feeling that with more crew avalable (both air & ground) the flying rate per aircraft could be increased.
I am pleased that you think that the C130 world is not in overstreach, but from what I can see the SH world is!