"Aviation Photo Thread" (Planes, Helos, Balloons, etc)...

Lockheed C-130 Hercules #405 of the South African Air Force, seen at Waterkloof military air base, 2011

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Just old stuff today, a sequence of 4 shots that make more sense posted together. I'll put 2 into 2 posts.

LAPES (Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System) demonstration, '85 IIRC. I was happy when we stopped doing these in the '92/ '93 timeframe. It was the only mission we did in the Hercs that I really did not enjoy.
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How low/slow would you have to fly to avoid damaging the cargo?

Generally, airspeed was determined by the weight of the load. Talked with an old FE buddy, we did have set airspeed. Less than gear limit, more than landing. Been 30+ years since either of us have done a LAPES and we can't remember the speed. Height was 5 - 10ft-ish.

LAPES was flown in landing configuration. Especially with heavy loads (like a 32000lb tank) it took only a minor miscalculation by the pilot and the Herc would actually touchdown on the extraction zone. Fly much higher than 10ft and you risk the load going a bit nose-down and the platform would dig into the dirt and the load would roll and be destroyed. It was developed and first deployed in Vietnam to drop heavy loads onto bases under attack, minimizing aircraft risk while on the ground.

Goal was to get the cargo on the ground without damaging the cargo or the aircraft. Sometimes, things didn't go so well. Many pieces of equipment were destroyed over the years, the Army generally used worn out/ unusable equipment for training drops because of the risk.

edit - removed content not really relevant

edit - updated info on the airspeed question.
 
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Mission into Zaire back in '89. Airport at Libreville Gabon. The other bird on the mission. We landed to see them parked next to an Aeroflot bird.
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View from my seat on one of our low level routes, co-pilot making a radio call. Cheap P&S disposable 35mm camera. I would occasionally grab it and point it in a direction and snap a shot without taking my eyes off the happenings. Some of the shots worked to give the flavor of what we were doing.
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