RAAF C130 operations

[herkman]

I note on the airman aircrew site that the RAAF has over 1,000,000 hours of operation of the C130 over 54 years.

A combined fleet of 48 airframes achieved this and it is a great tribute to all concerned.

I do show respect that many Air forces would have gone past that figure but am talking about loss of life or serious bodily harm.

The RAAF was the first foreign force to operate the airplane and one of its first C130A still flies in the USA and amazing with three bladed props.

Glad to be small part of history

Regards

Col

[polyglory]

I'll second that Col:ok:

[Wiley]

When you consider that the flying they do is far from point to point mainstream airline ops, but includes SAR, ops into remote, unprepared fields, highland ops in places like PNG (where the airfields can be about as marginal as marginal gets for an aeroplane that size), flying into a variety of war zones over the years, aerial delivery (paratrooping, container, CDS etc) - and they do it with a goodly number of their captains not much more than teenagers (their co-pilots often are teenagers, or were in my day) - and they haven't lost an airframe in 54 years, it's an enormous accolade for both the people who run the squadrons and the crews and maintainers who actually man the coalface.

I don't have the stats to hand, but is there another air force out there which has operated the Herc for 40 years, let alone 54 years, which hasn't lost an airframe?

I consider myself the luckiest of the lucky in that I arrived at 36 Sqn just in time to benefit from the change in policy that allowed first tour boggies who made the grade to gain a command and found myself in the left hand seat of an 'A' model at 21 years of age with little more than 1000 hours total fying experience flying into places in the highlands of PNG (Telefomin comes to mind) as well as into an active war zone in Vietnam.

When I think of how little I knew then, I'm convinced that I have many of my crew, particularly my Flight Engineers, to thank for keeping 'the blue side up'.

I'd close in saying that after 40+ years in aviation, 30+ of which was spent in airlines, I never saw an operation demanding such a high standard of its crews than I saw in 36 Sqn., which might help explain that extraordinary major accident-free 54 year record.

[500N]

54 years, that's very impressive indeed. :ok:

Always felt we got great service from the RAAF whenever we interacted,
nothing was too much trouble even though I know we chopped and changed
schedules and requirements all the time.

[Dengue_Dude]

Congratulations all, an impressive record and no mistake.

It takes a great deal of effort to achieve that kind of safety record considering the diverse tasking mentioned above and typical for C130 operations.

[Stationair8]

Congratulations on achieving that milestone.

Nothing beats watching a Herc operating into and out of a short strip or operating below 500'.

[L J R]

Have to second Wiley's comments on the ethos that I discovered when I joined 36 SQN. It was a professional bunch of talent.

..and operations in Telefomin has some of my most memorable memories.

I look forward to the party later this year when the 'H' retires.

[DessertRat]

"I don't have the stats to hand, but is there another air force out there which has operated the Herc for 40 years, let alone 54 years, which hasn't lost an airframe?"

Yup, 40SQN RNZAF.