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Feeling the Pinch ...

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Mark Murphy (Ret.)
  • Air Force Safety Center
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Note:  Long before the Air Force Safety Center stood up at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., on Jan. 1, 1996, Airmen were sharing their lessons learned in a variety of safety publications such as Aerospace Safety, Aerospace Maintenance Safety, Air Force Driver, among others.  During a year-long commemoration of the safety center's 20th anniversary, the Public Affairs Office will highlight previously-published articles and reprise historic Rex Riley cartoons to emphasize that long-standing safety practices and lessons learned remain relevant to the mishap prevention program of today's Air Force.

Looking back I learned most of my lesson's in the first year of flying C-130s. During initial qualification training the instructors teach you to trust your gut feelings, and when you feel the pinch, something has gone terribly wrong. Guess what they were right! One of my first flights I learned the meaning of the pinch.

The day started off with a 2200 show time to drop the Army 82nd Airborne at a local drop in North Carolina, a mission that C-130 crews based in the CONUS are familiar with. This mission was not complicated, simply take-off and fly forty-five minute route to a static-line drop, land and pick up the jumpers at a local drop zone (DZ) and bring them back to the green ramp. A perfect mission for someone newly qualified; little did I know what valuable lessons I would learn that morning.

The sortie was going to be three segments of the drops followed by a pick up at the DZ. Due to maintenance issues our timeline had slipped, next thing we know we are on our second sortie and ten hours into our tactical crew day. We made our second landing on a 3000 feet strip and roll-out to the end to perform the Engines Running On-load (ERO) of the Army jumpers. The co-pilot is running checklist and I am busy figuring the new assault take-off data. The loadmaster calls up and says he has closed up the doors and ready to taxi. About this time the crew is feeling the effects of being up all night and the long hot mission in an E-model C-130 where the air conditioning is nonexistent. The co-pilot request permission to take-off from the Combat Controller (CCT) and I felt something was not right. Something was not finished, I double checked the speeds on the Take Off and Landing Card (TOLD) and they were correct, I scanned the instrument panel to ensure all the engines were in their normal range, all systems were normal. I was feeling the pinch, only to pass it off as being tired.

We were cleared for take-off; the navigator and co-pilot cover the acceleration time check speeds and time limit. This procedure is used when your refusal speed is less than your take-off speed, the time limit ensures the aircraft is accelerating properly and if a problem surfaces during the take-off, there is enough runway to stop. 3000 feet of hard packed dirt does not leave much room for error! The pilot set the throttles to maximum power; I compared the torque to the charted power on the card and called, "power checks". Mind you I still have the pinch and strange feeling that something is wrong...once the pilot released the brakes I was thrown back against my seat, acceleration was more intense than I have remembered...but I am new and maybe the lighter gross weight allowed us to blast down the runway? The pilot turned and looked at me with astonishment, next thing I hear is the co-pilot call, "Go/Rotate" and the pilot pulled back sharply on the yoke. The propellers made an angry growl that I had never heard before, and from the bewildered look of the pilots, I know they had not either. Now I knew something was terribly wrong, and my eyes focused on the flap gauge, flaps are up! We just performed an assault take-off with the flaps up and lived to tell about it...I called it out and tracked the flaps to 50 percent. Dead silence over the crew interphone, once we got to a safe altitude and configuration the pilot announced to the crew what had just occurred and that we are flying VFR direct to home station and calling it a day. Four people just missed a critical aspect of our configuration for take-off, the effects of the long crew day just reared its ugly head. Even though we had another lift to fly, our aircraft commander (AC) made a great decision to land and call it a day. Lesson learned from this mission was very important, if you feel the pinch, TELL YOUR CREW! Flight instructors' talk about the pinch, what they left out was what to do about it....Simply put, speak out. Looking back on my 22 years of C-130 flying, when I sensed something was not right; someone else on the crew felt the same. Every crew brief starts out with the AC stating if you see or feel something is wrong, call "time out, knock it off, or this is stupid". Words that can save your life. (Reprinted from Flying Safety Magazine, August 2007)