Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Hot And Cold

One of Cannon AFB's AC-130s.

I'm just in from an abbreviated Happy Hour… abbreviated coz it's HOT outside… where I was entertained for a bit by a C-130 orbiting around Portales. This is more unusual than it might seem, seeing as how Cannon Airplane Patch is home to more than a couple of C-130s. But the "pattern" is such that aircraft from Cannon rarely fly around or over P-Ville, what with the
Melrose Range being 180-out in direction from Portales. As a matter of fact, it was rare for us to see F-16s, back in the day when Cannon hosted the 27th Tac Fighter Wing. But we digress.
So… there I was… nursing a cool beer and enjoying a cigar while watching that C-130 make a few passes over P-Ville before droning out of sight. I got to thinking that even though it's warm here on the ground… it must be nigh unbearable in that olive-drab heat sink called a 130. It gets cooler at altitude… cold, even… but at 1,500 feet, which was about the altitude of this 130 in question, it's still danged warm if not outright hot inside the aircraft.
Which, of course, brought to mind one of the few occasions I had to be on the inside of a C-130. That was back sometime around 1976 and I was sitting inside a C-130 on the U-Tapao AB ramp, sweating my ass off as we taxied towards the runway for to get airborne and fly up to Udorn AB in upcountry Thailand. "Sweating my ass off" is putting things quite mildly, Gentle Reader. It was probably north of 110 degrees (with something in excess of 90% humidity) on the ramp at U-Tapao, and Gawd-only-knows how hot it was on the inside of that 130. Sweat was oozing from every pore on my body, soaking my uniform in the process, and each minute seemed like an hour as we oh-so-slowly taxied out to the runway. And then the loadmaster and his assistant walked the length of the web seating (see here for various illustrations of the seating accommodations on a pax-equipped 130) and passed out blankets to everyone. I'm thinking this guy had a supremely weird sense of humor when what I really needed was a fan… or some sort of portable air conditioning device. "Trust me," sez the kindly loadmaster, "You'll need that blanket."
So… to make a long story short… we were finally cleared for take-off and ascended to our cruising altitude, which I guestimate was about 15 or 20 thousand feet. And it got COLD. We, all of us, sat there in our sweat-soaked uniforms which had become amazingly efficient evaporative cooling devices and listened to our teeth chatter. That ONE blanket I had been given didn't seem like it was nearly large enough, nor warm enough, to comfort me. And it wasn't: I was literally freezing my ass off and never did warm up until we touched down at Udorn AB not quite two hours later… whereupon we re-entered the USAF's own flying furnace as we taxied to the terminal. It was hotter on the ramp at Udorn than it had been at U-Tapao, if you can believe that. Or so it seemed.
So, anyhoo. The mind works in strange ways… and a short time ago I found myself both envying those guys in that 130, and sympathizing with them at the same time. I suppose you hadda be there… and for the briefest of moments, I was.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

8 comments:

  1. My one and only C-130 ride was from Bahrain to Fujairah. Same experience as yours...hotter than the hinges of hell sitting on the tarmac, colder than a welldigger's ass at altitude.

    While taxiing, everytime the pilot hit braked, he locked em up, causing the plane to rock back and forth.

    Damn Airedales...

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  2. I never flew on a -130. Had several rides on a KC-135, though. They do have some insulation, and they don't get as cold.

    It's kind of fun to lay on your belly back in the refueling pod and watch the earth go by. It's very different from the view out the side of a passenger jet.

    We have a C-130 squadron at MSP. You see them quite a bit flying around town. Usually there's two or three doing low-level formation practice, which I assume is for airdrops.

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  3. Heat stresses, yes.

    Reminds me of the engineroom of a CGN (I was on one a few years in the '80s). In the North Arabian Sea, seawater injection temperature was north of 90F. Engineroom, I said. Steam leaks and humidity and such. Felt sorry, I did, for the feed pump watchman, as I sampled primary coolant for fifteen minutes, then retreated to the air-conditioned lab. Watchman was there for minimum four hours. Hottest place in the Navy I'll bet. At least up there with Lex' description of an F-18 on the deck noontime in roughly the same place, same years.

    Contrast, a certain "HushPac" cruise in the vicinity of Vladi-this or that. We hugged the feed pumps for the warmth. Cracked the superstructure in high wave-induced stresses. Hot and cold, baby. Air Force ain't alone.

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  4. I love the stories - having never been on a C-130 other than one while it was parked at an air show. So which would you rather be - hot with sweat pouring off your body or freezing your ass off and chattering your teeth?

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  5. They were bombing around that time as well. And on into the night. I heard the bombs coming down around 11:30 last night, too. It's not too loud, just sounds like the kids are kicking the walls a couple rooms away (which I have accused them of before we relized what it was).

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  6. I was out of money, out of options, standing at Belle Chasse Field in New Orleans, May of 1985.

    Wearing the Navy Uniform of the Day, Summer Whites.

    I was given the opportunity to fly to McClellan AFB in Sacratomato, California. (Sp Int).

    Longest ten hours evah! Sweating in New Orleans, to freezing.

    Then I got a Jolly Green Giant to give me a ride from McClellan to NAS Alameda.

    Darn accommodating fellers, those Boys in Blue!

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  7. BR: Yup... 130s ain't known for comfort! Were you on an Navy bird or a USAF aircraft? Or maybe USMC?

    Gordon: I'd have LOVED to get a ride in a KC-135 like you did! I think boom operator is probably the best enlisted aircrew duty there may be... although "gunner" might be fun, as well. :D

    Bob: I danged sure wouldn't want ANY part of engine room duty on ANY vessel. I've toured the mechanical spaces on an FFG and a DDG (courtesy of SN2, he a CHENG by trade) and I fully hear what you're saying.

    Lou: Neither, if I had my druthers. But I think cold... within limits, of course... beats hot.

    Jenny: Is Jeff going back out to the range anytime soon? :D

    Darryl sez: Darn accommodating fellers, those Boys in Blue!

    We try. And we've been known to take pity upon our put-upon brethren in the Sea Service. :D

    Ten hours in a 130? Thanks, but NO thanks.

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  8. Buck, it was a Navy bird. Ol' boy operating the conrols was either on the brakes or off of them. No in between...

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.