tax dollars at work

rigpiggy · Post by **rigpiggy** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 8:16 am

Good on Them.

Hercules To The Rescue
Canadian C130 Picks Up 92 Stranded Quebecers Threatened By Forest Fire

Some might consider the Lockheed-Martin C130 Hercules something of an ugly duckling. It's squat, utterly utilitarian in appearance. But for more than 90 people stranded by fire in northern Quebec Monday, the C130 dispatched to rescue them was probably the most beautiful aircraft they'd ever seen.

The aircraft, from CFB Trenton in Ontario, landed on a gravel strip Monday at Eastman River, on the east side of James Bay. It was the second attempt by CAF pilots to get an aircraft into the strip, after they were turned back overnight Sunday by dense smoke and poor weather.

"This is typical of the missions that the Air Force's CC-130 Hercules crews are asked to undertake on a daily basis," acting 1 Canadian Air Division commander Brig.-Gen. Dwight Davies said in a statement to the Canadian Press. "Hercules crews conduct a variety of tasks for Canadians from humanitarian operations, as in this case, through air-to-air refueling of fighters conducting the NORAD mission."

The evacuees were flown to a temporary shelter in Val D'Or, Quebec. There's no word yet on when they'll be able to return.

hz2p · Post by **hz2p** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 8:26 am

I'm glad to hear the wings stayed on that antique for the duration of the flight.

CH124 Driver · Post by **CH124 Driver** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 5:17 pm

hz2p wrote:I'm glad to hear the wings stayed on that antique for the duration of the flight.

Antiques? You are aware that some of those Hercs are less than 10 years old right? Airframes 130343 and 130344 to be exact, we got them in 1996. I bet your car is older than that.

M4A1 · Post by **M4A1** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 6:11 pm

CH124 Driver wrote:I bet your car is older than that.

lol

duplicate2 · Post by **duplicate2** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 7:41 pm

CH124 Driver wrote:Antiques? You are aware that some of those Hercs are less than 10 years old right? Airframes 130343 and 130344 to be exact, we got them in 1996. I bet your car is older than that.

But aren't we also in possession of the highest time Herc in the world?

hz2p · Post by **hz2p** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 8:22 pm

Hey, no problem.

All our Hercs are brand-new. Our CF-188's never have maintenance problems, and our Sea Kings .... uh ....

CH124 Driver · Post by **CH124 Driver** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:53 am

hz2p wrote:Hey, no problem.

All our Hercs are brand-new. Our CF-188's never have maintenance problems, and our Sea Kings .... uh ....

I never said that. I was pointing out that a 10 year old aircraft is hardly an antique.

duplicate2, yes we are, but I believe that's one of the E model Hercs. We also have 14 H model Hercs, the first of which arrived in 1975 and the last one arrived in 1991. Then we bought two stretched out H models in 1996 for a total of 16 H models.

scotothedoublet · Post by **scotothedoublet** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:28 pm

Please, no more PR department quotes on this site! Its your bloody job to rush to the aid of Quebec! The rest of the country will use the services of the likes of First Air and other operators who daily fly medivacs with no PR department to trumpet their work.

Funny...but at least the First Air Herc would probably have less than 40000hrs (no clue though). Come on Clunky, let the boys pound their chests a bit, they finally have some long deserved public support after a decade of indifference.