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Aging C-130s: the geriatric fleet

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Phillip Butterfield
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  The 9th Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces commander made an observation during a visit here Oct.25.

 "We are flying our planes into extinction," said Lt. Gen. Gary North. 

A perfect example of Airmen working with very old aircraft is at this forward-deployed location, where the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing's Expeditionary Maintenance Group is in temporary ownership of some of the oldest C-130 aircraft in the Air Force inventory. 

One, affectionately known as "grandpa," was built in 1961 and another was awarded an honorary Purple Heart for sustaining multiple mortar hits and ground fire during the Vietnam War.

Most of the C-130s here  were flown during the Vietnam War and now fly in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

The base's C-130s accumulate large amounts of flight hours during operations and have undergone different modifications which keep them in the fight. The Airmen performing maintenance on these aging aircraft put in countless hours of work to keep them flying.

"Due to the age of the aircraft we have a lot of electrical problems and cabin pressure problems," said Tech. Sgt. James Vehlies, 386th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron electro-environmental systems craftsman. "Old wires rub together and short out causing system malfunctions and component failures."

Years of system modifications have complicated repairs.

"There are some jobs which take a long time to work," said Senior Airman Michael Sultzer, 386th EAMXS communications and navigation technician. "Due to different modifications the aircraft has had over the years the wiring diagrams get confusing."

As well as being modified over the years, changing the same parts multiple times takes a toll on equipment mounting points.

"Parts stop fitting like they should," said Staff Sgt. Aaron Huffmaster, 386th EAMXS crew chief. "For instance, we had a torque tube used for driving the flaps up and down which needed to be replaced. When we took the plane apart, I noticed the holes had rounded themselves out and now the new part wouldn't fit because the holes were too big. So, a little job has turned into a big one."

With the apparent challenges the aircraft throw at maintainers, the Airmen are still able to complete the mission with high marks.

"Normally these planes have a 60 to 80 percent mission effectiveness rate (or MER) at home," said Master Sgt. Garcia Brown, 386 EAMXS production superintendent. "But, because the maintainers are working so hard, we've been able to maintain a 96 percent MER. I'm proud; they're doing an outstanding job."

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