This is a big plane for a small runway. A KC-130F made history in 1963 by landing and taking off from the USS Forrestal. And they didn't just land once. The made 29 touch-and-go landings, 21 full stop landings, and 21 takeoffs.

And to top it off, they didn't even have a tail hook or a catapult. The C-130 became the largest and heaviest aircraft be land on an aircraft carrier - and the record still stands today. Their highest takeoff weight? 121,000 pounds.

http://www.boldmethod.com/blog...an-aircraft-carrier/

18,000 HP at yer disposal.

All good till the ship starts pitching.

Take a close look at the film and ocean state. It's white-capping with breakers. The seas look to be 6-8 feet and the deck is pitching. What is really impressive is that they were able to take off on the short angled deck. There must have been some good relative wind.

quote:

Originally posted by DOPPELGANGSTER:
18,000 HP at yer disposal.

All good till the ship starts pitching.

Probably some good headwind but the caps tellya it's choppy not rolling seas.

THIS IS PITCHING

So basically it is a big so what. The Navy was never going to land c130's as a regular course. Likely it was done to prove feasibility and that it did. Camera angle determines how angular pitch is. A high angle depicts less pitch than the deck angle you posted. Any Navy trained pilot should have been able to to land it. The fact that it was done over twenty times is a testament to capability. I don't get your angle?

quote:

Originally posted by DOPPELGANGSTER:
Probably some good headwind but the caps tellya it's choppy not rolling seas.

THIS IS PITCHING

quote:

I don't get your angle?

The point is, landing a C130 on a carrier can be done in relatively flat water. It's not agile enough to compensate for big seas. 6 to 8 foot chop is fishing weather for a small planing hull, a 90,000 ton carrier isn't affected in the slightest.

Why don't you ask all your Naval aviator pals if they feel they're qualified to land a C130 on a carrier and get back to us.

DOPPELGANGSTER is correct. 6-8 ft chop can't even be felt on a modern carrier; I was on the Enterprise and 6-8 was same as being tied up to the pier. As far as landing a C-130 on the ship, I would feel qualified. My question is, will it be a requirement for the ship to survive?

No sweat!

what does this pic represent?????????????????

quote:

Originally posted by ztreh:
what does this pic represent?????????????????

It's a Rorschach, what does it represent to you?

Oh shit?

Gents go to the aviation zone .com/factsheets/c130_forrestal.asp and check out the facts.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
Any Navy trained pilot should have been able to to land it.

Nah. Need Airforce trained Herk drivers to pull it off...... Of course, all C-130 pilots are USAF trained anyway, or at least they used to be.

When I was a young C-130 aircraft commander I would have been able to land on a carrier deck. I think most any assault landing trained C-130 pilot could do it. For a large aircraft the Herk is very responsive. I have been at 300' AGL in mountainous terrain out turning an F-4 and I have stopped a Herk by 1200 feet down the runway without doing anything extraordinary.

So plane and pilot are more than cable, as demonstrated, but it's not very practical. If a low pitch stop hung up on landing, at best a C-130 would slide off the deck, at worst it would crash into the conning tower potentially putting the ship off-line for a while.

Much better just to use two C-2s. Cool video though and required viewing at Little Rock......

quote:

out turning an F-4

You were empty, full flaps, full power, full rudder in a hover?

285 indicated, 60 degrees of bank, and I had him inside my turn circle. BTW, that doesn't work with F-16s unless every time they try to pull lead they see rocks......