Combat aircraft

be very challenging, but on days when

the sky is white, the ground is white and

the horizon is white, the pilot can lose

the surface definition of the snow so it all

becomes lost.

‘Crews call it flying in a ping-pong

ball’, he added.

‘The co-pilot will tell the pilot when it is

safe to pick up the flags so that they don’t

have to look back into the cockpit prior to

touchdown. From then on the co-pilot is

looking in the cockpit at the instruments

the pilot would have been looking at. The

navigator, meanwhile, has been timing

their responses into the conversation

with details on distance and drift to the

skiway as well as the radar altimeter

[RADALT] calls, hence the sing-song

reference. Depending on the surface

conditions, the RADALT does penetrate

the snow and ice a bit, but is very close to

being accurate.’

‘During the sing-song the tone and

speed of everyone’s voices will indicate

the sink rate of the aircraft. If fast, the

aircraft will be descending too fast’.

In extreme conditions when the weather

gets too bad the crews may be called to

fly a whiteout landing if the divert is too

far away, especially in Antarctica. The

pilot will steer the aircraft into wind in an

area where there will be no obstructions

— this will a big trapezoid area that will

have been surveyed for a smooth, flat,

unobstructed surface.

‘It is unsettling to fly until you hit the

ground’, noted Garran. ‘It’s definitely an

emergency procedure.’

All skiway approaches are terminal

instrument procedures (TERPS), which

means they have been flown before by an

instrumented smaller aircraft to make sure

there is no terrain or obstacles. Each end of

the skiway has red flags. Similar flags also

mark the mid-point, and after arriving at

the threshold there are flags every 500ft

(152m) and then at 2,000ft (609m).

Before the skiway end there are flags

marked with the number 2, as not every

skiway is the same length. If the LC-130

isn’t in the air by the 2,000ft markers they

will reject the take-off and try again.

Co-pilot student for CA’s flight to Raven

Camp was Maj Dia Ham. Having only

flown onto the ice for the first time the

day before, Ham was able to explain that

although it was a new experience, she

was well prepared. ‘For the first flight I

A wide shot of the LC-130H

cockpit, which has received

a few essential avionics

modifications since it was

built 35 years ago.

LC-130H pilot Lt Col

William Carraher.

UNIT REPORT | 109TH AIRLIFT WING

http://www.combataircraft.net January 2018

66

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