Speaking of C-130 Deployability

[civdiv]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4015390308129405896&hl=en

[erics]

presumably it can also take off?

[civdiv]

As requested;

It looked like it was running JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) bottles, any opinions?

civdiv

[Battlefront.com]

Where is Wildman when you need him?!?

Steve

[YankeeDog]

You don't need to be serving in the AF to see that the C-130 isn't using JATOs.

JATOs put off a LARGE amount of smoke, are good-sized and are generally mounted on the fuselage of a C-130 just behind the wing when used; I don't know if they still do it, but the Blue Angels' C-130 (their support craft) used to do a JATO takeoff as part of their show. I saw it live once -- It's pretty damn impressive to see a plane that big go from standing on the runway to a 45-plus degree rate of climb in a few hundred feet.

The small amount of "smoke" you're seeing in that photo is probably catapult steam; I bet they modified the C-130 to accept the Cat hookup; this would give it a good amount additional thrust (until it lifted off the deck, anyway).

Keep in mind, the 30+ knot speed of a CN, plus headwind, gives you a considerable advantage getting off the deck, & the C-130 was designed with STOL in mind.

Cheers,

YD

[ March 25, 2007, 02:38 PM: Message edited by: YankeeDog ]

[erics]

very impressive, i wouldn't've thunk it possible

[civdiv]

It's not using the catapult as it starts too far down the deck to be hooked up. No JATO though, probably tire smoke;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_USonrnwkzI

[ironbar]

Old story, no JATO- early four bladed prop A model; supposedly stripped down to about 51000 lbs operating weight( normally something around 60,000 lbs for an A model). Done to prove the C-130 COD capability; no cargo, minimum crew, nice show though.

[c3k]

Tire smoke???

[luderbamsen]

Yes as Ironbar said, done decades ago to test the C-130 as a Carrier On Delivery (COD) aircraft. They eventually settled on the C-2 Greyhound.

It landed and took off on its own accord. No arrestor wires. No catapult. "Look Ma, No Hook!" as they'd written on the fuselage

Respectfully

luderbamsen

[unsobill]

man some l337 skills on all those videos

[Bertram]

Blue Angels C130 still used JATO's in the show as of about one year ago when I saw them in Leeuwarden (the Netherlands). Definitly more smoke. Sound would have really made it easy to make sure - very impressive (Phantoms on low pass with afterburners and F-16's going just below sound on afterburners came close second)

[ironbar]

Any discussion of JATO, is incomplete with out mentioning CREDIBLE SPORT;

http://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/c130.asp

I had to download the video to be able to view it.

The overall summary is fairly accurate, except the time line is a little off, while the program started as part of the second Iranian hostage mission- it continued on for about a year

(it was envisioned as a key part of the operation a lot of the US military expected to be launched in 81/82 in a much different part of the world).

They used two airplanes, one was a former DC-130 drone control airplane, that is the one in the still photo with the long radome, and a H model , the one in the video. They arrayed these JATO bottles, and missile motors in fore and aft as well as straight up positions; they were supposed to fire in a set sequence, on the landing first the forward facing ones, at about 10 feet off the ground, to slow the airplane down, then the ones angled up on top of the fuselage to stop the aircraft on the ground. On take off the aft facing ones would fire followed by the straight up ones.

The engineers kind of stretched the envelope on this one- they added and modified flight surfaces really let their imaginations run wild. Although some of the stuff was fairly impractical, the Hyper extended flaps (70 % more wing flap area) required a jackscrew 4 ½ feet off the cargo floor in the middle of the cargo compartment, it slowed the landing speed to about 75 knots.

The mishap in the video happened on Aux field 1 at Eglin, they scavenged the usable pieces and buried the rest right out there on the field.