Expert: James Bell - 12/7/2007

Question
QUESTION: I'm a SSgt in the process of retraining into the 1A1X1 career field, and I'm looking forward to a new mission.  I was just wondering how easy or hard it is to become a FE on a C-130? I hear that they are the most fun to fly in.

ANSWER: Greetings Jesse -

Congrats on getting into the FE career field.  I was both a loadmaster and flight engineer on C-5's, C-141's and KC-10's.  I loved every minute of each plane and each job.

I was never assigned to C-130's, so I can't tell you how hard that particular aircraft is.  I have known many that retrained into other aircraft and it seemed to be no more difficult than another.  Lockheed aircraft have their certain idiosyncrasies, and being a turboprop it adds a fair amount more to knowing the engines.

I had one friend who was in special ops at Hurlburt ... gunships.  He said the Herc was a great plane to cut your teeth on, especially early on in your career when you are younger and can take the turbulence of low-level formation airdrop missions.  Once you have many hours and have that star and wreath over your wings, you will probably opt for a more comfortable plane.  That's why he finished his career on the KC-10.

I hope this gives you a little insight into the plane, albeit very limited.  If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to write back.

Sincerely,
James Bell


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: What is the main reason you wanted to get out of being a loadmaster and decide to become a flight engineer?

Answer
Greetings again, Jesse -

Excellent question.  I'm really dating myself here, but when I was flying on C-5's, they had recently been modified with new center wing boxes.  They had been flying under weight limitations.  Now, instead of flying with 50,000 lbs of cargo, we were moving 100,000 to 150,000 lbs of cargo every flight.  Although this wasn't a bad thing, the operational reliability of the aircraft was still not that good.  We broke a lot.  When that happened, the cargo was sitting on the plane and not being moved.  As a result, many bases adopted the policy of having us DOWNLOAD ALL our cargo upon arrival, just in case we broke ... even if it was all getting back on the next morning to continue on our next leg.  This turned a long day into a much longer one.  That particular job, on that particular airplane, just ceased being fun for me.

Granted, this was 1986.  The Air Force is different now.  I also enjoyed the fact that being a flight engineer challenged my problem solving and systems knowledge more, and my muscles less.  I had many friends in the squadron that said I would make a great engineer, and I wanted to take on the challenge.

I hope this answers your question.  Take care and good luck.

Sincerely,
James