As the military tries to rely less on ground transport, a Vietnam-era plane is pressed into service

[unhappycamper]

As the military tries to rely less on ground transport, a Vietnam-era plane is pressed into service


As the military tries to rely less on ground transport, a Vietnam-era plane is pressed into service
By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, November 6, 2007


BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq — Using a flashlight, a pair of airmen perched on a rolling platform peered into the engine of a C-130 Hercules transport plane.

It’s nearly midnight, and Air Force Staff Sgt. David Helton watches as they scrutinize the guts of the engine like two doctors examining a patient. Helton, a veteran C-130 crew chief, has worked on the planes for so long that he often can diagnose a mechanical problem by simply hearing the symptoms.

That’s an important skill considering some of the planes are twice the age of the youngest airmen. The newest version, the C-130J, uses computers to tell mechanics what’s wrong in much the same way the latest automobiles do. But the oldest models being used in Iraq are from the Vietnam era and require a keen eye to spot mechanical trouble.

“That’s what makes this so much fun, because it’s 60-year-old technology that likes to break,” said Helton, who joined the military 10 years ago. “So you have to think about it a lot.”

New transport planes are months from arriving for duty in Iraq. Until then, the Air Force relies on its older C-130s. The result: maintenance and air crews work 12-hour days, battling the problems that arise from age, brutal desert conditions and heavy use.

The older planes, the “E” models built in the early ’60s, have seen better days. Actually, they have seen better decades. Because of concerns the wings could crack and fall off, they are required to go through more laborious inspections. Additional checks pile onto the already hefty workload.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50058