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My First Flight as a Pilot in the C-130

Aviation is a really funny industry.

For so much of my life so many aspects of the industry have felt completely out of reach.  Even after all of the experiences I have had and people I have met, I still feel like there are so many things I will never get to see or experience.  The reality is that there are so many experiences I would like to have that there is no way it would be possible for me to experience them all.  I have made the mistake of ignoring the cool things I have done because I spend so much time looking ahead to the things I would really like to see and do.

In some ways that is what I did a few weeks ago when I didn’t take the time I should have to enjoy a moment that I waited almost a decade for, and which less than two years ago I would have told you would never happen.  Despite my delay I would like to share just how special an experience it was for me.

I have about 1600 hours as a navigator on the C-130H, and I enjoyed every single one of them.  To stand on that flight deck in countries all over the world, to airdrop supplies to people who needed them on the ground in Afghanistan, to deliver patients to hospitals where they could get the care they needed, or even to return them home, to dangle my feet off the ramp flying low over the islands of the Pacific and see what has to be the bluest water on earth.  All of these experiences were life changing in their own way, and I fully anticipated making more of the same memories over however many years I remained in the Nevada Air National Guard as a navigator.

But then the opportunity arose to attend pilot training and ultimately take the controls of the C-130.  As I look back on what it took to even be given that opportunity I am overcome with gratitude for the willingness of leaders to support me, and others, in that pursuit.  I am forever indebted to a family that continues to sacrifice every day so that I can chase my dreams.  None of it would be possible, nor would it be worth it, if I didn’t have their love and support.

This is the first C-130 that I ever got to fly as a pilot and it was life changing.

After about 21 months of training, I finally got to sit in the pilot’s seat for a flight on the C-130.  The first time I got that chance was honestly less than exciting.  For various scheduling and training reasons, I only got in the seat for the second half of the flight, and I didn’t actually get to manipulate the controls once.  That being said, it was still incredibly memorable for me, and in some ways is still a little surreal that it actually happened.

A few days later I was able to get in the seat for the entire flight that was actually based around pattern work so I got a ton of takeoffs and landings.  Some people may be surprised to learn just how much time Air Force pilots spend working in the pattern and doing takeoffs, approaches, and landings.  Those are skills that remain important no matter what level of flying you get to.

As I took the runway for that first takeoff at the controls I felt like my whole body was smiling.  In a less professional environment I may have squealed like a child with excitement, but I kept all of that inside.  Logically, the sights and sounds of that takeoff were not significantly different from any of the thousands of others I had experienced from six feet further back in the plane, but I will tell you that it felt like the first time I had ever experienced it.  It is amazing to me just how different it feels in that seat compared to the one I used as a nav.

The rest of the flight was spent working on landings, and the weather was certainly giving me a hearty welcome with a significant crosswind the entire time.  (It made future flights seem much easier when the winds were significantly less challenging.)  As the flight progressed it was exciting to watch myself get better with each landing.  Slowly putting the pieces together of how to apply rudder, aileron, elevator, power, trim, etc. to set that plane down where it was supposed to be.  I still have tons to learn, but even in those couple of hours it was exhilarating to see my improvement.

Sunsets from the air are just so much more beautiful for some reason.

I have since had a handful of flights spent mostly on tactical flying, and they have been a lot of fun, but nothing really compares to that first time you take the controls.  As I finish up my training here in Little Rock I have so much to be grateful for.

I don’t think I am alone in sometimes feeling that as I approach 40 it is easy to forget about my dreams and feel like the time has passed to chase them.  You tend to resign yourself to the life that you have.  Don’t get me wrong, I have been really happy with my life.  I have a job I love, with an amazing wife and stellar kids.  I have had incredible experiences with my work, and my family, and I know that those will continue, but I still have moments where I feel like there are so many things I want to do that I never will.

At times like those I have to remind myself how many dreams I have already successfully achieved, and that if I stop chasing new ones I have only myself to blame.  Being realistic, my dream of playing professional baseball has sailed, and that’s okay.  I still love the game, but it was probably never realistic anyways.  However, other dreams, like getting my tailwheel endorsement, teaching my kids (and maybe wife) to fly, and backcountry flying, are all still very much attainable.  They aren’t even that far from my reach if I just make them a priority.

Like so many other dreams, they are not just going to fall into my lap without effort.  I will likely have to make sacrifices and not pursue things I would like to do if I am to accomplish the things I really want to do.

When I was a kid living under the approach/departure path to DFW I vividly remember having the dream of becoming a pilot, but I never thought it was a realistic possibility.  I had no idea what the path was to get there.  When I enlisted in the Marine Corps I thought I had started on that path and would reach my goal in just a few short years.  Turns out it was more like 18 years, but dang it, I got there.

I think I have confused my own impatience with something being impossible.  It is easy to compare yourself with others and say they just got lucky or they have the right rich parents, and some of that is true, but who cares what someone else’s path was?  If you really want something bad enough and continue to focus on it, you can get there, and make it a reality.

It is really fun to be able to say now that I am a C-130 pilot, especially because I never thought it would happen.

June 21, 2021 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

C-130H Training as a Pilot: Academics and Sims

If you know anything about me you know that I am a little obsessed with the C-130H.  This is somewhat ironic when you consider that at the beginning of nav school I had said that I would be happy with any plane, as long as it wasn’t a C-130.  For the life of me I can’t remember why I had such a negative perception of the plane I now love, and the only answer I can come up with is that I was just uneducated.  When I did drop a C-130H at the end of nav school I was incredibly disappointed, as I had really wanted the B-1, but it was my second choice so I got over it relatively quickly.

During the time that I was a nav on the C-130 I had the opportunity to fly it a couple of times in the sim, but it was always just a landing or two.  It was fun, but nothing super memorable.  Going through pilot training, and knowing I would be going back to my beloved C-130 gave me a lot of motivation to do it right as well as something to really look forward to.

We learn some basic procedures on stuff like this that is worse than the flight sims many people have at home. lol

I started my training on the C-130H last November which followed the same pattern as all flying training in the Air Force.  There was a lot of academics, executed either through CBTs or classroom training from an instructor.  After the initial academics they start to mix in some procedural trainers where you learn checklists and some of the basic procedures like starting the engines.  Then you get in the full motion sims, which are always fun, and relatively realistic, definitely better than the stationary stuff at pilot training.

The first checkride actually takes place in the simulator.  Your instrument/qualification checkride is a handful of approaches, circling, holding, a few landings, and three-engine work.  It was not overly stressful as they prepare you very well with more practice sims than may be really necessary.  It was pretty awesome to have that first checkride done and be qualified to fly the plane I love so much.  It is a little weird to be qualified to fly a plane you have never actually flown, but I guess it is no different than airline pilots who get their first flights with passengers on board.

This is one of the full motion simulators that we use for most of our initial training. We do 36 sims in these to make sure we are ready before we go to the flightline.

After that checkride you move on to more sims that are focused on the tactical side of flying that we do, which is the more fun stuff.  This involves flying low levels, formation, and airdrops.  There wasn’t as much for me to learn in this phase since the job of the nav is actually much more in depth than the copilot.  The copilot is more of a backup for the nav and pilot when we fly tac, but it was still fun to get back into the more enjoyable part of our flying.

It has been really interesting going through this training from a different crew position.  You wouldn’t think it would change that much from standing behind the co-pilot’s seat, to sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, but it really is a significantly different perspective.  You don’t see as much of what is going on outside because of where you are sitting, and the fact that you are stuck in one place.  As a nav I walked back and forth between both sides of the flight deck on a regular basis to get a better view of whatever I may have been looking for, but now I am left craning my neck and body to try and see things.

My crosscheck of scanning instruments and outside is also much different because as a nav I would often look at certain data on the pilot’s side versus the copilot’s side just because it was more easily seen based on the yoke or where they were sitting, or just because of where I was looking at any given time.  Now the only reason I even look at the pilot’s side is because on the H2 only the pilot has a radar altimeter.  It will be nice having that on my side as well when I get back to our H3s in Reno.

Ultimately, all of the training made me even more anxious to get back on the plane I hadn’t been on in almost two years.  My last flight before leaving for pilot training had actually been giving a checkride, so I wasn’t even in the seat.  It is a little disappointing looking back, but the fact that my next flight would be in a pilot’s seat makes it a lot easier to tolerate.  After fives months of training I was super ready, and super pumped, to be getting back on the C-130H for a real flight.

June 12, 2021 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Why the C-130 is Better than the P-3

A C-130 preparing to do what it does best, mountain flying.

After a lovely discussion a few days ago with some new friends from Australia I figured it was worth some time to definitively list some of the reasons why the C-130 is better than the P-3.  I say some of the reasons because I simply don’t have time to list them all, nor is it necessary.  The comparison is worthwhile as the aircraft share some similarities, which we will discuss later.

The first reason is that it is simply better alphabetically.  C comes well before P because it is for better planes.  On a similar note C also comes before F, but that is a different discussion.  On top of the alphabetical argument, it is also better numerically since 130 is clearly bigger, and therefore better, than 3.

An air-to-air left side view of an Australian P-3C Orion aircraft flying over Thailand.
By Camera Operator: Butterworth – US Defense Visual Information Center

Continuing with the theme of numbers, there have been more than 2500 C-130’s built while there were only 757 (tell me this was not an accident) P-3’s built.  Obviously if you build more of something it must be better.

The C-130 has been built in 40 different variants because it is just that versatile.  The P-3…only 5.  So by an order of magnitude of 8, the C-130 is better.  (not to mention that 130 is 43.3 times bigger than 3)  There is also not much cooler than the flying tank that is the AC-130.  It’s like something you would build in a video game or discuss while you are drunk with friends.  Let’s take a Howitzer and stick it out the side of a plane.  And, just to be safe let’s also put a 40mm cannon and a gatling gun on there too.  At least the P-3 has an antenna sticking out the back.

The C-130 has been around longer.  While both aircraft are in the prestigious 50 years of continuous flying club, the C-130 was first flown five whole years before the P-3.  As I am demonstrating to the guys in my UPT class, when it comes to flying, older is better.

The P-3 needs more than 4,000 feet for its takeoff run.  I have seen a C-130 take off in around 1500 feet. Better.

The service ceiling of the P-3 is 28,300 feet, but I have personally been over 30,000 feet in a C-130.  Better.

When Batman needed to extract a bad guy out of Hong Kong, what plane did he use?  A C-130.

When Paul Walker and Vin Diesel needed to airdrop cars to stop bad guys, did they use a P-3?  Nope, they used a C-130.

One is named after the son of a god, the other after a guy who is a constellation that people can only ever find the belt of.

Shoot, despite being a maritime platform, a P-3 has never landed on an aircraft carrier…but a C-130 has.

Next let’s talk about looks.  Despite some fat shaming that may have taken place in this discussion with my misguided Aussie friends (the C-130 has a max takeoff weight 20,000 lbs higher than the P-3, again bigger is better), the C-130 is simply the sexier plane.  If it wasn’t, would the Blue Angels, who are the face of the Navy, have picked it to be part of their demo team?  Just saying.

The 1891 patent from Seth Wheeler shows that the toilet paper should go up and over. Google Patent Database

I will end with the point that started our discussion on Twitter, which really just tops the cake.  The C-130 and the P-3 share the same engines, which is a fun similarity.  The difference is that one of the planes has them on right side up (C-130), and the other has them on upside down (P-3).  This is evidenced again by which one was built first as to which way is correct.  Much the way that the patent for toilet paper shows the correct way for a roll to be inserted is with paper to roll over the top, the C-130 shows the proper way to hang T-56 engines.

Come to think of it though, they are from down under, so maybe they are just looking at it upside down?

In all seriousness, they are both excellent planes that have served many countries well for many years.  So well in fact, that only one of them is being replaced by what is essentially a 737.

By Camera Operator: Butterworth – US Defense Visual Information Center

 

July 21, 2020 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

We Lost a Great Friend Yesterday

Flying is an inherently dangerous business.

I have often heard, and experienced, that the longer you are in this business the more likely you will lose a friend.  For what was unfortunately not the first time, I lost a friend in an airplane accident yesterday.

Ian McBeth was one of the pilots on the Coulson Aviation plane that crashed while fighting fires in Australia.  Ian was a consummate professional, and one of the best pilots I ever had the opportunity to fly with.  He was an expert in his craft and one of the most respected pilots in the firefighting community.

On top of working for Coulson, Ian was also a member of the Montana National Guard and before that the Wyoming National Guard, also flying the C-130 as an expert on the MAFFS mission.

I got to know him because over the last year or so he regularly flew with us in Reno as we continue to get spun up as the newest of the MAFFS units.  He was an exceptional instructor in what is arguably the most dangerous mission the C-130 executes.  He was always calm and collected as our pilots learned this dynamic and essential mission.

I will always remember his cool demeanor, and his ability to mould our pilots into even better pilots.  Ian was always a pleasure to be around and he will be truly missed.

This whole thing frankly sucks, and is a good reminder to all of us aviators that what we do is dangerous and unforgiving.  We will all learn from this tragedy and improve the safety of this mission in any way we can.

As I talked with my fellow classmates here at UPT Icame to realize one of the amazing characteristics of pilots, and more specifically Air Force pilots.  We have an incredible amount of resiliency.  We have terrible tragedies like this, we take the time to mourn our friends, and we will certainly never forget them, but then we get back to work and take care of business.

That is what our friends would want.

Ian was doing what he loved, and that is a great example for all of us to commit ourselves to something as important as fighting fires, and more importantly to commit fully to whatever it is we do.

To all of our friends that have gone before…a toast.

You will be missed Ian.

January 25, 2020 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Lessons Learned: Sometimes Our Mistakes Fix Our Problems

This experience was one that I observed rather than experiencing myself as I was giving a checkride. However, I have experienced the exact same lesson numerous times.

A large part of my job as a navigator on the C-130 is time control. This entails ensuring that we execute our airdrops at the correct time. If the route is being executed in IFR then the window is +/- 90 seconds. If it is a visual route then the window is +/- 60 seconds.

For the most part it is pretty simple if you take off on time and then execute the mission the way it was flight planned. It is more complicated when there are external factors such as ATC, other traffic, weather, or threats that we simulate for training.

In this instance the navigator I was observing took off late due to airline traffic, both arriving and departing, that always takes priority over us. This could have been avoided, but that is a different topic for another day.

We ended up departing about three minutes late, which sucks because it is always harder to make up time than it is to kill time. Once we leveled off the clock was showing us 6 minutes late, though we were not yet at our enroute speed.

The nav wisely accelerated immediately rather than waiting for his planned acceleration point which got him to within 2 minutes of his desired TOT. Still not within checkride parameters, but getting closer.

He then wisely decided to turn inside of course to kill even more time. He initiated his turn about 30 seconds early which at that speed is about two miles early. He expected to roll out about two miles left of course and hold that to shorten the distance of the route he was flying. But, when we rolled out, he was exactly on course, and right on time.

So what had gone wrong?

What he had not accounted for was the fact that he was already inside of the turn he was making so the numbers he was seeing were not reflecting what he was trying to execute. By being inside of course he was getting a distance to go to the turn that was actually much closer to the following leg centerline than he was expecting. So when we rolled out on the next leg he was on centerline and not two miles left of course like he wanted.

But, I also said we were now on time, so how was that possible if he hadn’t cutoff the corner like he intended? Ironically, it was also because we were already inside of course that we ended up on time. While we didn’t roll out left of course, we did roll out farther up that leg than expected. We expected to roll out with 16 miles to go to the next point, but we actually rolled out with only 12 miles to go to the next point. Shortening the leg by 4 miles allowed us to shorten the route by about a minute, and we were now on time.

It was a good reminder to see that sometimes even when we don’t see everything, it can still work out for us. I also don’t believe that it is all luck either. I think some of it has to do with putting ourselves in a good position, and then even when we don’t see everything it can still work out for us. At the same time, it can just as easily go the other way, which is a topic for another day as well.

I have been far too lazy in analyzing how I have been doing on my flights recently. It gets easy to do that when you become pretty adept at doing your job well. That can also be a dangerous combination.

I’m glad I had the chance to evaluate someone else, because it reminded me that I need to do a better job evaluating myself. If I get too lazy I will quickly regress in my abilities, and that is not what I want to do.

July 19, 2019 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

How I Became a Pilot: Part 5 Joining the Reno National Guard and Becoming a Pilot

For a long time it looked like I would not be able to go to the Guard yet.  In fact, my first application was denied outright. I know it was never looked at because it came back in less than 48 hours, and the Air Force never does anything that fast.  

But with some consistent support from my current, and future leadership we got through the process and I was able to leave Active Duty about 8 months before the end of my commitment.  I was super excited to be back on the West Coast, and to get to fly in the mountains around Reno.

When I was going through the process of joining the unit I mentioned a desire to become a pilot, but based on my age, and their needs I was told it was not going to happen.  Honestly, I was okay with that as I genuinely love what I do, but I figured it didn’t hurt to ask.

Adapting to Guard life took some getting used to.  Financially it was far more complex than getting a paycheck on the 1st and the 15th, but we have figured it out.  The culture is also very different since the majority of the people in the unit are part-time and thus are not available to do  training or for flying at a moments notice like we were on active duty.

Maybe most importantly, the Guard is also one big family.  An incredibly dysfunctional family at times, but the dynamics of a group of people who work together in one place, for in some cases 30+ years, can get very interesting.  

Families know each other, and not just spouses and children, but siblings and parents and other extended relatives.  While it does have its challenges, there is a bond that is undeniable, and something I personally find valuable.

I was also excited to be flying in what is the best local flying area anywhere in the world.  Though recently I have decided I may need to alter that statement as Alaska is pretty darn amazing, it is incredible to rage through the Sierra Nevada mountains on a regular basis.

About six months after I joined the unit they decided they were going to have a board to convert some navigators to pilots.  Initially, I was hesitant as I was 36 and pretty set in my ways. The idea of going back through 18 months of training with 23 and 24 year olds was not appealing.  I reached out to some trusted friends and after hours of discussing the practical side of it all I was still not convinced.

Then a great friend, who apparently knew me better than I knew myself at the time, appealed to the emotional side of it all and it tipped me over the edge.  Essentially he told me that for as long as he had known me I had wanted to be a pilot, so why would I not even try to do it. Let them tell me it wasn’t going to happen, but I at least needed to try.

As part of the preparation process for the board I decided that I needed to finish my private pilot’s license.  We had just gotten our tax return, and I convinced my saint of a wife to let me use most of it to chase my childhood dream.  I figured that even if the pilot thing in the Air Force didn’t work out, I would still be a pilot in the eyes of the FAA and I would have fulfilled a dream.

I immediately set to work finding an instructor and preparing to take the written test.  The first time I went up in the air with Nikk I knew that I had made the right choice. I really can’t even put it into words, even more than a year later.  It awakens something inside of me that nothing else does. I have written quite a bit about all of that training so I will refer you to past posts to read more about that.

I was not able to finish my license in time for the board, but I was proud of myself for getting as close as I did.  If it weren’t for weather I would have finished, but I don’t think it would have really made any difference with the results.

The time for the board came and I felt really good about how I presented myself and what I wanted to accomplish.  When the results were given I was not surprised as they selected the person they knew better who had been around longer.  While I was disappointed, I once again knew that things always seem to have a way of working out for me and my family.

After a few more weather delays,  I was finally prepared for my checkride and got it scheduled for 22 June 2018.  You can read about the details of that memorable day here, but as you are likely already aware, I became a private pilot on that very day, and it was maybe the most proud I have ever been of myself on a professional level.

To finally do something that I had talked about for more than 30 years was simply incredible.  The path was much longer than I had anticipated and there were many times that I thought it would never happen.  With all of the twists and turns that life takes, I had given up on fulfilling that dream. Like so many people I had moved on to something more practical and left those childhood dreams behind.

It happens to all of us at some point, whether we realize that at 5’9″ we are never going to play in the NBA, or that despite our love for the violin we will never play at Carnegie Hall.  At some point most of us concede to reality.

I have often struggled with this as I believe that you should never give up on your dream, but that at the same time, at what point is it keeping you from doing something else great because your other dream just isn’t going to happen.

Recently I have come to feel that it isn’t that you need to give up on your dreams completely, you may just need to tweak them a little.  If you are a five foot tall adult you will never be a center in the NBA, but maybe you can become a coach, or a trainer, or a writer for Sports Illustrated, or a sports agent.  If you don’t have the eyesight or stomach to be a fighter pilot maybe you can work for an airline, or an airport, or do maintenance on airplanes, or write a blog about them that becomes wildly popular and now you get to go for rides in those same fighter jets.

I firmly believe anyone can achieve true and lasting happiness in this life by pursuing their dreams.  As you can see by my path, it was windy and bumpy with a few pit stops and 180s, but I did it, I became a pilot.  

I have flown more than 1500 hours as a navigator all over the world in a C-130 and seen sights that few other people in the world will ever see.  I have provided life saving airlift to people who needed it. I have helped fight forest fires saving people’s lives and homes.

I don’t say any of that to brag or be prideful.  I say all of those things to point out that I have lived an amazing life.  I have fulfilled so many of the dreams that I had as a kid with my face pressed against a window at DFW looking at airplanes with my dad.  I just didn’t even realize that I had some of those dreams. I knew that I loved airplanes, and that I wanted to fly, and once I actually pursued that dream I found happiness and purpose that I did not have before.

That to me is true success.  I still have a lot of things I want to do, and fortunately I am still young enough to pursue many of them, but I feel successful with the things I have already done.  I have done things that money can’t buy, and I know that the experiences I have had are priceless.

So if you have a dream, go after it.  You may need to tweak your expectations a little, and you may not get there as fast as you would like, but when you put your heart into something and you chase it because it awakens part of your soul in a way that nothing else does, you can’t go wrong.  You will find happiness, and that is what I found when I became a pilot.

June 27, 2019 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

How I Became a Pilot: Part 4 Falling in Love With the C-130

While graduation was the pinnacle event of the training program, as evidenced by the fact that we celebrated by going to Disney World, it really was not the most exciting event at the end of training.  

A few weeks prior to graduation we held our drop night, which is where we all would find out which plane we would be going to, and where our first duty station would be.  It is often a raucous occasion with lots of excitement and anticipation because it determines most of the rest of your career.

I had great desires to go to the B-1 as a weapons system officer because I thought it would be super cool to fly that fast, that low, and drop bombs.  I felt that I had a pretty good chance as I knew I had scored well throughout the course and would be competitive for what I wanted. As luck would have it I would discover in the first few minutes of the night that I would not be getting my wish and I would be going to the C-130 in Little Rock, AR.

Now if you have read much that I have written in the past, you would know that I could not be happier with where I ended up.  The culture of this community, the missions we fly, and the work I do could not be a better fit for me, and I am eternally grateful I did not get my first choice.  That being said, at the time I was pretty devastated, and so was my wife.

Not only was I not getting the plane I wanted, but I was going to the last place I had wanted to go on my list.  Were I a drinking man I am sure I would have gotten pretty trashed that night because I was shattered. I really should have known that it was for the best though, because it has always worked out for me in the end.

I am not really sure when I fixed my attitude about the whole thing.  It may have been after I did some more research on what C-130s actually do and realized it is a pretty cool mission, or it may not have been until I got to Little Rock and started to actually get into the training.  Either way, it was not very long before I realized this would be a pretty great fit for me.

Training in Little Rock mimicked all of my previous training as I started with a lot of academics, followed by a bunch of sims of varying types, before I hit the flight line and I got to set foot on what is now my beloved Hercules for the very first time.

I will never forget that first flight, even though it was probably the most boring flight I have ever had on a Herk.  We literally flew out over Oklahoma, and then turned around and came back and landed. I had no idea then how much I would love this plane.

It was not long after completing my initial training that I got on the board for my first deployment.  I was not overly anxious to go at first as my wife had just given birth to our third child, but after talking about it a little, I went and volunteered to go because I knew it would be a vital part of my development as a professional.

The four months of preparation before leaving flew by, and before I knew it I was headed to Afghanistan by way of Slovakia and Kyrgyzstan on a DC-10, and into Bagram, Afghanistan on a C-17.  Both my first flights on those aircraft types, and thus memorable in their own right.

I spent the first two months working a desk and doing mission planning for the other crews, but flew as much as I could which was about every 4-5  days. It was incredible. The missions did not require a ton of planning, and that aspect of the job was actually pretty easy, but it was amazing to actually do what I had been trained to do.

We were flying into austere airfields all over the country delivering supplies and people to the areas where they were needed.  We were flying aeromedical evacuation missions helping people who were injured get the help they needed, or in some cases being the first step on their way home.  I got my first combat airdrop where we dropped sixteen bundles of food and water and other supplies to a remote destination where they had no other supply chain support.

Sure it sucked being away from my family and my five month old daughter, but I was doing what I had trained to do and it was incredibly rewarding.  When you are deployed like that, your crew of six becomes a little family that does almost everything together. Most of us would not have been very close prior to the deployment, but when you spend almost all of your time together you build a bond that cannot be underestimated.

Upon returning from the deployment, I quickly inserted myself into flying as much as possible.  I did a lot of tactical flying locally and signed up for every trip that I possibly could to build hours, and gain experience.  I was fortunate to build hours relatively quickly and only about 18 months after getting to the unit I was told I would be going to instructor school.

The cool thing was that I got the news at the same time that I would be going to Yokota AB, Japan to continue flying on the C-130 for my next assignment.  At the time our squadron was converting to the C-130J which does not have a navigator, and I had assumed I would either change airframes, or possibly even go back to Pensacola to instruct there.  So to hear that I would be able to keep flying on the C-130, and that I would be going to Japan was incredibly exciting.

Instructor school was relatively uneventful, though ironically, the person that gave me my checkride at instructor school was the same instructor that had been with me on my very first flight in the C-130. Upon completion of the course, I headed off to Japan which would prove to be one of the best experiences of my life.

I have written a fair amount about my experiences in Japan in the past so I will let most of that information stand on its own, with a few points of emphasis.

I was fortunate to fly with an instructor pilot who was very influential in the unit on a few occasions, and every single time we flew together we would always end up in these in-depth conversations about how we would handle a certain situation or how we would interpret the way a regulation was written and we would both walk away better for the learning opportunity.

She would later become the chief of standards and evaluations, overseeing all of the checkrides and other such areas of regulation oversight in the squadron.  As fortune would have it, she had decided when she was told she was going there that getting me into her office would be her first order of business, and being the influential person she was, she succeeded.

I can’t begin to express what a fortunate event this was for me.  I credit all of my success since then to her having faith in me and refusing to back down when others questioned if she was making the right decision.  She saw something in me that I still don’t often see in myself and I am forever indebted to her for that. So thank you Dominique Haig for having faith in me.

Before I ever got to Yokota I was aware that they too would be converting to the C-130J and I would once again be out of a job, though in this case there would be nowhere else to go on active duty and I would have to change airframes if I was going to stay active.

I was going to say that after much deliberation I decided I needed to find a way to stay on this plane, but there really was not a lot of deliberating for me.  The other options I was presented with were simply not appealing to me and my family and what I wanted to accomplish. My wife on the other hand took a little more convincing.  She was very hesitant to leave the steady, consistent paycheck of active duty, and while I had many of the same concerns, I knew that I needed to make a change.

So with the help of some amazing leaders, who took it upon themselves to help me to get what I wanted and would be best for my family, I decided to transfer into the Air National Guard, where they still had the H model and I could keep flying on the plane I love.  It would also allow me to move back to the West Coast as I was joining the Reno Guard unit. If it weren’t for those leaders going to bat for me it never would have happened, and I am incredibly thankful to them for that.

I feel like a broken record with mentioning the support of people who got me to where I am, but to me that is really just emphasis of how important those people are.  In some cases I didn’t even realize their impact until much later, and I am sure there are people I have neglected to give the appreciation they deserve.

So make sure that you express that gratitude when you have the chance, because you never know if you will have another chance, and while most of those people don’t do it for the recognition, they deserve that recognition all the same.

I should also mention something that I don’t think I have ever expressed in on my blog.  I have previously written, once or twice, about my love of the C-130.  That is a love that I almost never experienced due to a lack of education.  When I got to Pensacola for training I thought I wanted to fly in a fighter, but that as long as I didn’t end up on a C-130 I would be happy.

This perception was one of complete ignorance.  All I knew at the time was that the C-130 was the antithesis of a fighter and so I wanted nothing to do with it.  Ironically, the fact that the C-130 is the antithesis of a fighter is now one of the reasons I love it most.

Two lessons are to be learned here.  One is that you really need to educate yourself before you make decisions, because otherwise you will miss out on some of the greatest experiences, and loves, of your life.  I almost missed out on the C-130 because I knew nothing about what it actually did.

The other lesson is to find a culture where you feel at home.  Looking back now I never would have felt at home in a fighter unit, it just isn’t my personality.  I won’t get into specifics because they don’t matter.  Everything about the C-130 community matches who I am with how we execute our missions, the types of missions we execute, and the crew dynamic that we thrive in.

To relate this to everyone else, it’s okay if you don’t want to fly for an airline.  You may want to fly cargo, or backcountry, or be a CFI, or just chase $100 hamburgers, or only be a passenger, and all of that is okay.  There is a place for everyone in this wonderful world of aviation, and whatever that is for you, AWESOME!

The key here is to find happiness in what you are doing, and then go after more of it so that you can find even more happiness.  I am so glad that the C-130 found me because outside of family, I don’t think anything else in my life has brought me more joy.

June 26, 2019 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Flying in a New Mountain Area is Always a Fun Experience

Weather sucks, okay complaining complete.

Snow and wind kept me from flying the last two weeks which was really frustrating, but better safe than sorry.  Fortunately, this week has been absolutely stunning and I have flown my guts out.  Five flights in three days to be exact.  I won’t give you the full run down in one post, but I have a bunch that I will be posting in the next few days because I learned so much and I have so much to share.  I really just want to skip to my favorite part, but there was so much learning before that part that I will control myself.

When the weather is beautiful here, it is incredibly beautiful.

On Tuesday I was scheduled to fly out to Elko, for some tactical fun in an area that we really don’t get into very often.  It is always fun to check out new places, which happens a lot for me right now since I am still new here, but when it comes to mountain, low-level flying, it is also useful to have someone who has been there before to keep you safe.

The flight out there was a little boring as is to be expected when droning along for 45 minutes.  Though I will say that there is still something beautiful about the high desert mountain ranges.  Especially while they are still covered with a good bit of snow.  I know the dry isn’t for everyone, but I do feel at home here.

Upon getting to Elko, it was a lesson in high altitude approaches for the pilots.  The aircraft commander was an experienced, born and raised Nevadan who has been flying in the area for a long time.  Our co-pilot is still relatively new to the plane, but soaks up information like a sponge and really applies the lessons he learns.  The funny thing is that both of them had similar struggles.

When you fly at high altitudes, the plane just does not slow down as quickly because the air is so much thinner.  I am not sure if it is quite as dramatic on jet aircraft, but for the C-130 it makes a huge difference because those big barn door propellers don’t act as effectively as air brakes.  That being said, both pilots landed safely in the zone and some good learning was accomplished.  There was also a fun little crowd lined up along the road by the time we finished enjoying the beautiful majesty that is the mighty Hercules.

Once we were done with our patterns we headed out East of Elko into the Ruby mountains.  This area is well-known for its Heli-skiing which was easy to understand as we headed out into the still completely snow-covered mountains.  They Ruby Mountains are a pretty small little range, but are incredibly majestic because they just explode out of the desert floor.  I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but there is about a 5-6000 foot increase in elevation in a matter of maybe 5-6 miles.  It was truly a sight to behold.

The route we had built split the gap between the Humboldt and Ruby ranges and then proceeded to the south along the East side of the Rubies.  A few miles down the ridge we climbed up for an expected ridge crossing, which looked a little with some clouds, but proved to not be a huge deal.  We crossed the ridge and dropped down into this gorgeous valley that was also still full of snow all the way to the bottom.  You could see the ski tracks from those who had partaken of this incredible terrain.

While I would hesitate to take a small aircraft down as far as we fly, it was a nice wide valley with nice easy turns, that was sloping down the entire way through the valley opening up back into the valley East of Elko.  The video below doesn’t really do it justice, but it gives you a little taste of just how stunning this experience was.

Not to give up after only one fun valley, we proceeded further down the range where we were able to do a little more exploring through this gorgeous range of mountains.  It was easy to see why people would pay ridiculous amounts of money to experience them on skis.

We took advantage of the less dramatic mountain ranges on the way back to educate the young co-pilot on mountain flying and how to execute turns through the valleys safely, which he picked up quickly.  It was also a great chance to help him build his sight picture for ridge crossings and how to do that effectively.  For most people these skills are not as important because you should give such dangerous areas plenty of room, but for a C-130 crew, it is how we live, and not just because it is fun.

Training of any type can get a little monotonous if you just do the same stuff over and over again, so no matter what you are flying, or what other passions you may be pursuing, make sure that you mix it up a little.  Fly to a new airport, rent a different type of plane, try some formation flying (with proper preparation of course), just do something different.  It will keep you engaged and enjoying the variety of life that makes aviation so much fun.

Speaking of variety, my flying wasn’t complete for the day yet.  To hear more about the rest of my day check out my next post…

March 29, 2018 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Flying in the Reno Area is AMAZING!

As luck would have it, my first trip from my new home took me back to where my C-130 life all started, Little Rock. The fog was pretty brutal that morning, but fortunately it burned off.

I must once again apologize for my absence in recent months.  To be honest, I just didn’t feel like I had much to say, and I hate reading posts that just drone on about nothing so I chose not to write.  Fortunately, I now feel like I have a lot more to write about, and more importantly, have more pictures and videos to share, so hopefully I will have the time to actually share them with you.

I flew this plane back when I was in Little Rock, along with a couple of the other tails Reno now has. It is fun being reunited with an old flame.

As you may remember from my last post a few months ago, I am now living in Reno, NV and am flying as a member of the Nevada Air National Guard.  It really sucked at first because I wasn’t able to fly for about a month while they took care of administrative crap, but since that got taken care of, I have been flying a whole lot, and it has been wonderful.

I did get the chance to take part in the AMATS course here in order to become an instructor for it.  I actually flew the course about three years ago, and it was some of the best flying I have ever gotten to do.  I wrote about it back then so feel free to take a look back at that post. 

Cloud surfing is always one of my favorite parts of flying. It was a little unnerving this time since this was on descent and we weren’t too far from the ground.

The terrain in this part of the world is simply incredible.  It is a challenging environment to fly in, and it is certainly taking some learning to really enjoy it, but it has been so much fun.  I don’t necessarily have a lot to say specifically right now, but I did want to show a couple of pictures and videos.  I promise they will be better in the future when I remember to take my GoPro with me.  In the meantime, please enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions or requests.  I look forward to sharing more of this amazing journey with you.

January 13, 2018 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.

Moving on in My Love Affair with the C-130H

Me preparing to drop supplies as part of Operation Christmas Drop.

Today is a very bittersweet day for me. After 7 years in the active duty Air Force, today is my last day on active duty.

It has been an incredible ride of ups and downs all over the world.  I have met many of the greatest people I have ever known in this time.  I have been mentored and taught by great minds who had so much to share and were willing to take me under their wing to help me become a better officer, aviator, and man.

I have witnessed the selfless sacrifices of countless other military members, and often the more difficult sacrifices of those we leave behind who keep life going while we go to serve others.  It is an awe-inspiring site to take part in actions that serve thousands of people all over the world who are in dire need of help.

The C-130 is a military plane, but the greatest work that it takes part in is the humanitarian missions it performs.  There is no other plane that can get into the places we can and provide the services we do.  It is a strange feeling to watch natural disasters play out in anticipation of the opportunity to go and help those people.

While it breaks my heart to see the last C-130Hs leave active duty this week, I am equally rejuvenated by the fact that I am starting the next chapter of my career as a member of the 192nd Airlift Squadron in the Nevada Air National Guard.  I do find it quite poetic that on the same day that the last C-130H will leave active duty I will also separate from active duty and move to the National Guard.

Swearing in as a member of the Nevada Air National Guard.

As I drove onto the base for the first time today it was a little surreal to me to think that I will stay here in Reno for the remainder of my career.  No matter how weird it may have felt, when I looked out on the ramp and saw their beautiful C-130Hs I felt right at home.

The awesome thing about the two planes I could see from the parking lot is that they are the MAFFS (Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System) birds that are utilized for fighting forest fires all over the country.  This struck me even more with the fires that ripped through California this past week, not too far from where we live.  They are easy to distinguish if you ever see these planes because of the huge orange numbers on the sides of them.

I am incredibly excited to take part in this new mission set to help fight fires, and hopefully prevent as much damage as possible.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but there is something special about being a part of missions that help people in trouble.

Preparing to fly in the Advanced Mountain Airlift Tactics School.

This is not my first time flying in the Reno area as I took part in the Advanced Mountain Airlift Tactics School shortly before I went to Japan.  I actually wrote about it back then if you would like to learn more.  Suffice it to say that it was the most useful flying course I have been through in the C-130 and provided tremendous insights into the intricacies of mountain flying.  Becoming an instructor for that course is just one more thing that I am looking forward to in my new adventure.

One reason I haven’t written much on here for the last year is because I just wasn’t flying much, and the flying we were doing was not really exciting.  While not every flight is meant to be fun and exciting, I am so looking forward to getting back to the flying that made me love the C-130.  Flying in the amazing Sierra Nevadas in some legit mountains is going to provide some great pictures and videos that I look forward to sharing with you in the coming months and years.

Thank you for the support over the years, and please come back to see more about my exciting new adventures.

October 15, 2017 I Written By

I'm Dave and I am a proud Avgeek. It goes way beyond liking airplanes. It is a passion that cannot be subdued.