CODE ONE: 2016 Volume 31, Number 1

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Article
Aircraft

Close Up: C-130J Super Hercules

By Jeff Rhodes Posted 20 October 2015
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The horizontal trailing wire antenna reel housing on an EC-130J Commando Solo II psychological warfare aircraft is highly specialized piece of aircraft structure.Missile launch detectors help protect the crew and the C-130J crew from shoulder-fired and launcher-mounted surface-to-air missiles; Windshield wipers do what they do on any vehicle--move water off the windshield.This is the upper escape hatch behind the wing. These bungie cords are part of the emergency depressurization component of the hatch. The top of the fuselage on the C-130J is fifteen feet from the ground.Most of the C-130Js have the Enhanced Cargo Handling System, which includes flip-over rollers and integral Container Delivery System vertical restraint rails.The Enhanced Cargo Handling System in the C-130J uses flip-over trays with rollers (as shown here) for palletized loads on one side and tie-downs for rolling stock on the other.Nothing is designed in or installed on an aircraft without reason. The C-130J is certainly no exception. Here, using rivets to secure a reinforcing plate is standard aircraft construction practice. This is near the emergency exit on the C-130J.The twin head-up displays on the C-130J flight deck are primary flight instruments, appearing as cat’s eyes in the right light.The C-130J loadmaster uses a computer terminal near the flight deck to operate the cargo ramp and door and to release loads during airdrops.The C-130J features both electronic and manual circuit breakers. The circuit breakers are located on two panels on the flight deck, one each behind the pilot and copilot.The six-bladed GE-Dowty R391 propeller on the C-130J has composite blades and fewer parts and weighs less than the aluminum props on legacy C-130s. Hinged panels provide easy access to the Rolls-Royce AE2100-D3 engine.Looking like something out of Star Wars, the EC-130J Commando Solo II psychological warfare broadcast platform has television antennas mounted on the vertical tail.The integral winch and tow plate on nearly every C-130J is installed in the cargo floor behind the flight deck.Some things don’t change over legacy aircraft, like the landing gear handle. Some things do change—lights in the handle and landing light switches on the C-130J are night-vision-goggle compatible.The tension reel design for raising the paratroop door on the C-130J has changed little from the first Hercules.The instrument panel on the C-130J consists of four color liquid crystal displays and avionics management units; each pilot has a communications, navigation and identification management unit on the center console.The cup holders on the C-130J--there's separate ones for the pilot and copilot-- accommodates everything from a coffee cup to a Big Gulp.The Enhanced Cargo Handling System in the C-130J cargo hold features electric locks that release simultaneously.The removable fuselage tank on the KC-130J aerial tanker holds 3,600 gallons of transferable fuel. This is a fuselage tank being installed in a US Marine Corps KC-130J. The KC-130J is known as Battleherk to Marine aircrews.The ramp and door on the C-130J are strengthened to allow for airdrops at 250 knots.The microwave oven in the galley on the flight deck is convenient for preparing hot lunches on long flights, but it is not compatible with night vision goggles. When the NVG lighting mode on the C-130J is activated, power to the microwave is shut off.Inflatable life rafts for the C-130J Super Hercules are checked before being repacked and installed in two bays on the top of the wings
Inflatable life rafts for the C-130J Super Hercules are checked before being repacked and installed in two bays on the top of the wings

“Form ever follows function” is the dictum of famed American architect Louis Sullivan, father of the skyscraper. To him, detail was integral to the design of the building itself, not just ornamentation added for effect. Aircraft embody this concept. Nothing is designed in or installed on an aircraft without reason. The C-130J is certainly no exception. It is an airlifter; that is its function. Small details taken together give the Super Hercules its form.

This photo feature originally appeared in the Volume 21, Number 1 2006 issue of Code One

Jeff Rhodes is the associate editor of Code One.
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