Air Force grounding some older cargo planes that are flying in Iraq

[leftchick]

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2936328

WASHINGTON Concerns over the condition of some cargo planes in Iraq is prompting the Air Force to ground some of the aircraft.

The Air Force is grounding 30 of its oldest C-130 cargo planes and putting flight restrictions on 60 others after discovering unexpectedly severe wing cracks.

The moves include about a dozen C-130's that have been hauling supplies in Iraq, but that is not expected to have a major impact on the war effort. The Air Force chief of staff told a Senate committee this week that the planes in Iraq would be replaced by newer ones.

In its 2006 defense spending blueprint sent to Congress on Monday, the administration proposed ending production of the C-130, which entered service in 1954 and has been in continuous production ever since.

[HereSince1628]

1. Well, at least the British crash has got them looking...

How many of these aircraft were Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve? Is this another paragraph in the story of the second or third class treatment of the Guard and Reserve units serving on active duty?

Those units seem to have been dropped into the theatre of comabt with a lot of cast-off equipment from the active forces.

[Kolesar]

2. Napoleon left his materiel' on the fields of Smolensk

Whilst he retreated back to France, leaving his army to starve and die in Russia in November.

[leftchick]

3. I wonder how much stuff we left in Vietnam....

It was a pretty hasty retreat....

[Kolesar]

4. "N Vietnam inherited the 3rd largest airforce"

So said a friend of mine who armed aircraft in Thailand. The US had actively been giving aircraft to S Vietnam as part of "Vietnamization", which meant we were withdrawing and telling them "good luck". So N Vietnam acquired huge numbers of helicopters and attack aircraft.

[Kolesar]

5. I found a nice Napoleonic history site while googling this

Had to share it! http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/riley/787/Napoleon/1812/russia.html

[Gin]

6. I was thinking the other day that Iraq has no planes or tanks or

other vehicles used by armies. We have to outfit the whole army with everything from clothes to tanks, to trucks and bullets.

Our guys scavange......but the Iraq army will have new things.

[bemildred]

7. I was wondering it this is related to the shoot down?

I know, "wing cracks" and all that, but it's not like they would
publish it if it was something else, like if the resistance had new
or dangerous arms of tactics.

[DulceDecorum]

8. ...before the Iraqis ground them

with US personnel still inside.

[DemoTex]

9. C-130 wing failure 8/13/94 during wildfire operations. Pearblossom, Ca.

WITNESSES SAW THE AIRCRAFT IN LEVEL FLIGHT AND OBSERVED A BRIGHT ORANGE FLASH NEAR THE WING ROOT. THE FIRST FLASH WAS FOLLOWED ABOUT 1 SECOND LATER BY A MUCH LARGER DARK ORANGE FIREBALL AND BLACK SMOKE. THE RIGHT MAIN WING THEN SEPARATED FROM THE AIRCRAFT. THE WRECKAGE WAS DISTRIBUTED OVER 1 MILE IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN.

http://www.iprr.org/COMPS/LAX94A323.htm

[pfitz59]

10. Old, over-stressed aircraft.......

Ever take a paperclip and bend it back and forth until it snapped? Same thing happens to aircraft wings and spars. Replacing these 90 aircraft will add another couple of billion $$ to an already bloated DOD budget!

[DistantWind88]

11. So they should just fly the old ones

and risk the lives of the crews? Gee, glad you're not making budget decisions.