Coast Guard C-130

[warthog]

The Clearwater station is right in my backyard. My bro in law got this shot today.
See this just about every day, but it is still pretty damn impressive in person.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater

[iceman]

Whoa it flew right through those wires.

[MakersTeleMark]

The ones that shuttle between McMurdo and the Pole are pretty impressive too:

[brice618]

Whoa it flew right through those wires.

I saw, no shit, a crop duster fly underneath a set of power lines last week.

[Yanos]

Last summer on a caribou hunt several miles off the Denali Hwy, we start to hear this humming. Turn around and here is this C-130 bearing down on us. If they were 150' off the deck I'd be surprised. Super cool, even if they scared of the herd we were staring at.

[brice618]

Also, I was on the 4th pitch of a Climb in southern Arizona, maybe 550 ft off the ground and hear propellers, turn, and see one below the horizon, flying through a gap a quarter mile to the south of me with another hot on its heels. So cool to be looking down on them.

[grrrr]

I don't mind seeing them low, but from experience I would advise not being under them when they drop retardant.

[Mazderati]

They're called special needs now.

[itsnowjoke]

If it's a C-130 thread, I apologize. But Sunset Beach at St. Maarten is the ultimate airplane viewing experience!

[Powder Ho]

I don't mind seeing them low, but from experience I would advise not being under them when they drop retardant.

+1 that's for sure.

[itsnowjoke]

This guy came in even lower...

[SB]

Several many times while skiing/hiking/hunting in WV I have had A-6s, F-14s and F-18s fly directly over me or below where we were at.

They do mock bombing runs at the Mt. Storm power plant and then map of earth flying on the egress. Lots of times after they get out over the Spruce Knob area they will fly striaght up and then dog fight with each other.


The Martinsburg National Guard fly 130s and C-5s over the house often, its amazing to see the C-5 flying around cause its looks too big to even get into the air.

[flyandski365]

We were loading boats at Hecla Junction in Browns Canyon when a pair CH-47's came thundering down the canyon about 25ft off the water. The crew chief standing in the door was waving at us. Pretty cool.

[Meadow Skipper]

I don't mind seeing them low, but from experience I would advise not being under them when they drop retardant.

Yeah, no shit:

[snapt]

Used to work real close to McClellan in Sac, stationed a few coastie C-130's there since they could reach the coast or Tahoe quickly. Things would go over on approach at 150'. We shared the lot with a car dealership and the damn thing would set off every fucking alarm on the lot. Always made for a hellofa racket.

[Chugachjed]

I hated those fucking things flying low over the barracks at all manner of ungodly hours.

[LightRanger]

The ones that shuttle between McMurdo and the Pole are pretty impressive too:

Saw a pretty cool show on the 109th Airlift Wing a few weeks back: http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/arcti...e-109th/349946

First summer after we moved to the Sierra Foothills (2000) there was a fire in the canyon of the North Fork of the American about 3 miles from my house. Got the scanner for the CDF air attack frequency and went to an overlook where I could see the canyon rim and chilled for a while.

The big CalFire planes (C-130s, WWII-era bombers [I seem to remember a B-29], etc.) were based out of Chico and the smaller guys (S-2s, S-3s, helos, etc.) were out of Grass Valley.

I was sitting there watching the action when a C-130 came in perpendicular to the canyon rim and dropped in out of sight above the river. He emerged from the canyon upstream, flying parallel to the river. To this day it's one of the coolest feats of flight I've seen--a ~90 degree turn in a really tight spot with a retardant drop in the middle of it. It was pretty cool too to chill out there after dark and see the canyon rim glowing from the fire below, with occasional flares when a big pine went up at the top.

Family friend flew helicopters for the Coast Guard for 20 years out of Sitka, FL Panhandle, and LAX. He's got some sweet stories.

[pointemstraight]

I used to live in Pasadena, and on New Years day we would always go for a mountain bike ride up into the canyons - the same canyon that the stealth B2's would come down through for the Rose Bowl flyover. Pretty badass to be in the canyon and essentially above the bomber as it came through.

[splat]

I don't mind seeing them low, but from experience I would advise not being under them when they drop retardant.

Been buzzed by C130s a few times traveling along the east edge of area 51 from tonopah to caliente. Had one fly right in front of me 50 feet off the deck and I almost wrecked it was so freaky. When you see one of those coming at you at virtually ground level while doing 100 mph (no cops out there) and it first appears in the corner of your eye, your mind tries to comprehend it, then you deduce that you are on a intersecting course with it and your body just wants to perform a gigantic physical twitch that will surely careen your rig into a tailspin....you just suck it up and get the rush, which is intense.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

What caused the wings to fold up on that one in the video? Looked like it was in mostly level flight, had just dropped it's retardent and then the wings fell off. WTF?

Never been buzzed by a C-130, I can imagine that would be pretty intense, but have been buzzed plenty of times by A6s, EA6B Prowlers, F16s, F15s, and F18s flying low-level maneuvers over the Cascade Mts. while out backpacking.

Got treated to a spectacular show when I was standing on top of The Citadel in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and a flight of five T-45 Goshawks came up the valley, broke apart and started chasing each other and mock-dogfighting around all the local peaks and through the valleys. Got one kind of lousy picture of one with my film camera and wide angle lens when he flew through the pass between me and Mt. Daniel.

Never been able to get a pic of any of the other encounters as you usually don't hear them 'til they're right on top of you and more often than not I'm down in the trees or in a lake basin so only see them for a second or three.

[splat]

I was supposed to be on that fire that plane crashed on. Crash site is in Walker, at the foot of the Walker River Canyon on 395. See the memorial every time I go to Mammoth. Stress fractures caused the wings to sheer off was the determination. That crash and a couple others grounded a good part of the West's air support for fire fighting.

[Jumper Bones]

What caused the wings to fold up on that one in the video? Looked like it was in mostly level flight, had just dropped it's retardent and then the wings fell off. WTF?

Wing spar snapped. Positively ancient C-130A, the A-models were produced in the 50s and that aircraft had been flying in very thick, bumpy low-altitude air and just got overstressed with time.

That crash was a big watershed moment for the USFS air tanker industry, there used to be a whole lot of different types of aircraft doing it and now they're pretty much down to a handful of Neptunes and Trackers. IIRC in the aftermath it was determined that aircraft operating on USFS contract were immune to federal safety regulations and a lot of maintenance and inspection stuff had been ignored...that all changed after that crash.

Now, Neptune Aviation of Missoula will be using BAe-146 airliners, and the company from Oregon (can't remember their name) will be using MD-83 airlines...same as Delta and American fly! Crazy.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

MD-83s? Dropping fire retardent is probably the only good use for those as carrying people in them is cruel and unusual.

[iceman]

Yeah, no shit:

Holy shit.

I guess somebody skipped "tighten wings down" on the checklist. That's crazy, RIP.

[flyandski365]

This is supposed to be one of the best jetwatching sites in the world. USAF F-15Es out of Lakenheath.