C130 Hercules
Posted on 12/11/2009 11:12:33 AM PST by null and void
It flies! Airbus' hulking A400M has maiden flight
The A400M military transport plane that has been causing Airbus and European defense ministers budgetary and logistical headaches finally took to the skies for its maiden flight on Friday.
But even as the hulking, gray airlifter took off from the Spanish city of Seville, defense officials were to meet on the ground to decide how to continue with the much delayed and over budget project.
The A400M program was launched six years ago with an order for 180 planes from seven governments — Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. The project is running at least three years late.
The original price was €20 billion ($29.46 billion), but a preliminary report by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers said EADS might need an extra €5 billion — inflating the final bill by 25 percent, a person familiar with the talks said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak to reporters.
EADS has asked governments to renegotiate the initial contract, which was agreed along the lines of Airbus' standard fixed price commercial contracts, rather than a risk-sharing military deal.
Airbus CEO Tom Enders has slammed the contract agreed by his predecessor, which saddles the European planemaker with most of the costs of delays.
But asking governments to pay more has become difficult at a time when countries' budgets have ballooned as they fight off the worst of the economic crisis.
As well as raising the price, officials could agree to cut the number of planes on order, reduce the specifications, or spread increased payments out over time.
Officials meeting in Seville will try to overcome a deadlock between countries such as France and Britain, whose militaries need the aircraft urgently, and other countries, such as Germany, that have budget concerns.
Ministers are hoping to agree in principle to continue with the project before the end of the year, possibly at a meeting next week, according to the person familiar with the talks. But the tricky details probably won't be pinned down until the contract signing in late March or early April, the person said.
As well as price, governments need to decide on technical specifications and delivery schedule.
Abandoning the project would cost EADS €5.7 billion ($8.4 billion) in advance payments it would have to return to governments — and would dent its credibility. It has already has put aside €2.4 billion in provisions against losses related to the plane.
The A400M is designed to replace Lockheed Martin Corp.'s aging C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force as well as the retired C-160 Transall transport aircraft developed by a French and German consortium.
C130 Hercules
C-160 Transall
A400M It should almost double its predecessors' cargo capacity and have a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers).
South Africa recently pulled out of an order for eight A400Ms, leaving Malaysia as the only export customer.
Viaduct? Vye not a turkey?
It does look like the C-141
Wonder why it needs so many blades on those propellers
Big son of a gun they finally built
Plus, the engines would just lull you to sleep. I flew on the EC-130H Compass Call for three years. It was a blast. Never felt more comfortable on any other type of aircraft. Never felt safer, especially after one particularly bad day ended just fine.
Lost one engine on take-off. Lost a second as we were coming back around to land. As we were in the process of landing, we had one engine feathered, one in the process of being feathered and a third on its way out.
Normally, an empty C-130 could fly and land on one engine, but we had several thousand pounds of fixed equipment in the back. We landed about 1/2 again the normal landing speed. Pilots did great. Went, did the debrief, and headed out for beer at 9 AM.
Looks like a Herkybird got jiggy with a C17.
Man, that's rough.
I never had a problem. If fact, between the time the engines were started, to the time we taxied for take-off, I was usually out. I was awakened more than a couple of times by our WSO asking me if I'd like to join them with the checklist (they asked me if I was ready to go, I responded that I was ready to go - real mission critical ;-)). The only thing that sucked about it was that the computer monitor I sat at the most was located right next to the power bus. The EMI coming off that bus really screwed with the screen. It was like constantly degaussing it - it was always wavy and distorted. I think it contributed to my first (and last) upchucking on a flight.
What am I missing? The 400M looks (in relation to the people and the size of the cockpit glass) to be about the size of a 737.
Aeromedical evacuation - I was basically an airborne paramedic.
Yep. Finest party in the World.
Yeah. That day we bought the beer. However, if the front-end crew bounced us around too much, especially on landings, they bought.
A buddy of mine was a flight engineer (only enlisted on the flight deck - pilot, co-pilot and nav were officers). He was a hoot. Flight engineers basically owned the aircraft, they just let the pilots borrow them. ;-)
Note that the C-130’s tail looks alot like the tail of the old Hughes Hercules.
Also, note the similarity of the tails of the A-10 Warthog and the old B-25 Mitchell. It seems like they could even be traded out.
Coincidence? It’s always been interesting to me.
In September 1983, the Marine unit in Beirut requested delivery on several of the portable laser designators we were developing at Redstone Arsenal. The Marine Corps fragged a C-130 to Redstone to pick up the lasers and a small team of us to go train the Marines in their use. In that huge cargo bay of the Hercules was one pallet of gear and three pax. The plane was basically empty as we flew to Norfolk.
From Norfolk we were on C-141 MAC aircraft to Torrejón, Sigonella, and Larnaca, Cypress. From there we flew to Beirut on a CH-53. Our first try at landing was aborted - too much fire was hitting the airport. On the same helo was a team of diplomats who negotiated a ceasefire.
We trained Marine FO teams on the lasers for about 10 days, often using the top of the Marine Barracks for an OP. Once we went out to the University and trained the Company positioned out there.
Our mission done, we were left to basically hitch-hike back to CONUS. At Larnaca, we thumbed a ride back to Sigonella on a Navy Reserve C-54! No seats - we just sat on the bare floor. At Rota, we finally got manifested back to Norfolk on a Starlifter.
In Norfolk we bought airline tickets back to Huntsville. There were few stares as we hoisted our helmets, flak jackets, and web gear into the overhead bin.
Two weeks later the Marine Barracks was blown up on October 23 and we lost 240 fine youmg Americans.
That was the last time I was on a C-130. Hope I didn’t bore you too much.
Semper Fi,
241
You are right. My bad - I should have made sure I had it correct rather than relying on memory.
Semper Fi,
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