I participated in a contest on the internet, and won a trip in an C130, I think it is. with three of my friends :(

Nice, congrats Philip!I have been on several but of course as a troop being deployed and not ever in the cockpit. Are you going to get to be up front? I've been on a few C-130's, a small "near" crash landing in a C-5 Galaxy, and an emergency landing in a C-141 Starlifter. My best memories was in a KC-135 tanker when I was a kid, well that and getting a short tour in a B-17 which was awesome.Just be sure to watch for the green light before exiting the door :(

watch for the green light before exiting the door :(

Ha!I sat in a jump seat on a flight from Norton AFB (San Bernardino CA now closed) to Altus AFB (Lawton OK). There was a 747 that was overtaking us, climbed up to 1000 ft below on our right, drifted left to right and when clear of us continued its climbout. Zoom... awsome sight. Most of the time I was in back on web seating. Long trips to Azores and Incirlik (Adana Turkey) from Germany... very long.

Philip,Do yourself a favor and bring a double set of hearing protection. They'll probably give you the "yellow squishy" kind, but you might want to bring your own set of "earmuffs" too. Also, bring a coat. It can be 105 degrees on the ramp, but after 30 minutes of flying around at altitude, you'll be a popsicle.If you get a chance to go up front during the flight, ask the Nav about the Joint Precision Air Drop System (JPADS - literally pronounced "Jay-pads"), ask the loadmsters about Engines Running Offloads (ERO), and ask the pilots about the different types of approaches they fly like "random low", "random high", and "abeam". You can also hit up the Flight Engineer with a few questions about his take on something called the "four engine rollback"...he'll know what you're talking about.You'll get more fun answers than if you ask the typical "what's this do" type of questions.By the Bye, Dan mentioned the C-141, and I just had to comment. We had the last operational C-141's in the inventory here at Wright-Patterson AFB until a few years ago, and I had the pleasure of hitching a few rides to places like Tinker and Altus. It was a great airplane, and I miss the distinctive sound of those engines. The C-141's here got replaced with the C-5, so now there's an even more distinctive sound in the skies over Dayton.

Philip,Do yourself a favor and bring a double set of hearing protection. They'll probably give you the "yellow squishy" kind, but you might want to bring your own set of "earmuffs" too. Also, bring a coat. It can be 105 degrees on the ramp, but after 30 minutes of flying around at altitude, you'll be a popsicle.If you get a chance to go up front during the flight, ask the Nav about the Joint Precision Air Drop System (JPADS - literally pronounced "Jay-pads"), ask the loadmsters about Engines Running Offloads (ERO), and ask the pilots about the different types of approaches they fly like "random low", "random high", and "abeam". You can also hit up the Flight Engineer with a few questions about his take on something called the "four engine rollback"...he'll know what you're talking about.You'll get more fun answers than if you ask the typical "what's this do" type of questions.By the Bye, Dan mentioned the C-141, and I just had to comment. We had the last operational C-141's in the inventory here at Wright-Patterson AFB until a few years ago, and I had the pleasure of hitching a few rides to places like Tinker and Altus. It was a great airplane, and I miss the distinctive sound of those engines. The C-141's here got replaced with the C-5, so now there's an even more distinctive sound in the skies over Dayton.

Nice, thanks for the reply. It's with the Royal Danish Airforce. They fly routine flights to Afghanistan and Greenland. SO I guess the crew have a ton of experience. Dunno how the "four engine rollback" translates though, lol. :(

Great advice Nick on the "Bring a jacket". My hours on the C-130 was in a military "Suck it up and drive on" mentallity so I forgot how cold it gets. I actually got mild hypothermia in a C-141 once but then again, I had hypothermia documented 7 times (god knows the total count), so already had low tolerance haha.Also on the ear plugs. If you don't already know, you'll see soon enough that things like talking to the guy next to you is a little more difficult than seen in the movies, if not impossible unless you have some type of cvc on. I love seeing movies like Predator when their in the huey and they talk like they can actually be heard. Funny, my years of Air Assult in Special Ops never were as quiet as they make it appear, like

.

Great advice Nick on the "Bring a jacket". My hours on the C-130 was in a military "Suck it up and drive on" mentallity so I forgot how cold it gets. I actually got mild hypothermia in a C-141 once but then again, I had hypothermia documented 7 times (god knows the total count), so already had low tolerance haha.Also on the ear plugs. If you don't already know, you'll see soon enough that things like talking to the guy next to you is a little more difficult than seen in the movies, if not impossible unless you have some type of cvc on. I love seeing movies like Predator when their in the huey and they talk like they can actually be heard. Funny, my years of Air Assult in Special Ops never were as quiet as they make it appear, like

.

I've actually been on a Bell 212 Huey*, and conversations could easily be made with the guy sitting next to you :( Cape Town, 30 min. awesome comcat ride!

my years of Air Assult in Special Ops never were as quiet as they make it appear

A highlight of my too brief tour in 23AF (AFSOC) was watching a MH-53 assault in a hostage rescue exercise at night with night vision goggles on. OMG my heart was racing. The sound of the machine, suppression fire and then watching them fast rope out the back and set up their point was just awesome.

Dunno how the "four engine rollback" translates though, lol. :(

Here's a quick run through of the phenomenon:http://www.aetc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123120236Here's what happens when you're not as lucky as the Little Rock crew in the previous story (click through the slideshow):http://www.scribd.com/doc/4735845/Iraq-C130-crash-29-JUNE-08

A highlight of my too brief tour in 23AF (AFSOC) was watching a MH-53 assault in a hostage rescue exercise at night with night vision goggles on. OMG my heart was racing. The sound of the machine, suppression fire and then watching them fast rope out the back and set up their point was just awesome.

Dan, were you at Hurbie? It's weird to think that all those gunships are out at Cannon in New Mexico now. I hear the neighbors aren't too friendly out there... spotlighting them in their orbits and everything.

A highlight of my too brief tour in 23AF (AFSOC) was watching a MH-53 assault in a hostage rescue exercise at night with night vision goggles on. OMG my heart was racing. The sound of the machine, suppression fire and then watching them fast rope out the back and set up their point was just awesome.

Yeah the MH-53 is a sweet ride I never got the luxury of experiening unfortunately, I never had any time in it but have done ramp style repelling like they did from those. It's much less traumatic since your under the tail and don't have the wash throwing you to the ground haha. On a huey or blackhawk however, as soon as you get into the L-position and if using single strand rope which is usually the case, it's bye bye chief "See you on the ground". The wash would litterally tear me off the skid.It's weird but watching it was different than doing it, meaning it was more heart racing for me to watch than do, too many drills I guess :(I was actually just talking to a friend the other day, telling him how we use to set up inverted Y's for extraction using IR chem sticks. I have some fond memories but not as many as I probably would have if I went into the AF or Navy like I wanted originally to fly jets.

Congrats. If it is a long flight, sit in the middle (near the wings), if you sit up at the back it can make you feel a bit airsick when there is turbulence, as the C-130 tends to 'pivot' a bit and there is less movement where the wings are, a bit like sitting low down in the middle of a ship giving you less chance of getting seasick if you are prone to it. Doesn't actually bother me, but I know that works on a C-130 for those unfortunate enough to be prone to airsickness.Al

Dan, were you at Hurbie? It's weird to think that all those gunships are out at Cannon in New Mexico now. I hear the neighbors aren't too friendly out there... spotlighting them in their orbits and everything.

I was the comm officer that moved 23AF communications to Hurlburt from Scott AFB. I didn't stay because I didn't know I was going to be divorced in six months. Damn.I flew over Cannon recently in the C414 on the way to KLAS, the place looked deserted. I didn't know the AC's were there. Must be that desert camy.

Over my years in the Marines, I flew in assorted AC both fixed and rotary winged. My first flight was in a CH-53D (there is an unflattering name we have for them, but the swear filter would most likely mangle it) when stationed at NAS Memphis. Going to South Korea saw me flying on a C141 to Osan and shivering by the time we landed. Going back to Okinawa from Korea was in a Sky Pig (C-130). While on Oki, I managed to snake a ride in a Skid (Huey) for an evening hop. This doesn't account for the approximately 250 recorded and unrecorded hours in Phrogs (CH-46). I always did like flying in military aircraft, even if just in the back.I agree with the double ear protection, lack of insulation in a bird makes them tremendously noisy.Mike S.