‘No Aircraft Is Beyond Saving’: C-130 Flies Again 5 Years After Hard Landing

A C-130J transport plane took flight at Ramstein Air Base, Germany on July 15, five years after being grounded by a hard landing that damaged its wings, landing gear, and engines.

Rehabilitating tail number 11-5736 was an odyssey, according to a July 29 press release. It required new wings, engines, and other main components that had to be shipped across the Atlantic. 

The repair marked the first-ever wing replacement of a C-130J in the field, the release said, and shipping the new wings required building first-of-its-kind transport containers.

“Ultimately, this project reaffirmed the Air Force isn’t just about advanced technology,” Senior Master Sgt. Justin Jordan, quality assurance superintendent for the Ramstein-based 86th Maintenance Group, said in the release. The aircraft is assigned to Ramstein’s 37th Airlift Squadron.

“It’s about the people who make that technology work,” he said. “It’s about grit, discipline and the unwavering belief that no aircraft is beyond saving when the mission demands it.”

The trouble started April 23, 2020, when a crew took the Hercules up for a routine pilot evaluation sortie. The plan was to practice an assault landing, where pilots touch down and come to a complete stop as quickly as possible, as they might have to do during a combat airlift mission on a dirt airstrip.

The pilot was on speed and glide path until about 70 feet above ground level, where he began reducing the engine power, called a power pull, too early. Usually the power pull is not supposed to start until 20 feet above ground level, but in this case the engines were at their lowest in-flight idle setting at 45 feet above ground level.

The reduction in power made the aircraft fall faster to the runway. The Hercules slammed down onto its main landing gear at 3.62 Gs and at a sink rate of 834 feet per minute, well above the aircraft’s limits of 2.0 Gs and 540 feet per minute. 

Before the Herc’s nose landing gear touched pavement, the co-pilot called for a go-around. The pilot pushed the throttles forward, flew back around, and landed safely. Nobody was injured, but the hard landing buckled parts of the fuselage, cracked parts of the wing, and caused an estimated $20.9 million in damage, investigators said in a 2021 report.

Still, Air Force officials decided it would be more cost effective to return the C-130 to the fleet rather than retire it, Col. Lucas Buckley, commander of the 86th Maintenance Group, said in the release.

“Between the engineers, planners and technicians, taking the steps to put the aircraft back together was the best investment for the Air Force,” he said.

Making C-130 parts is a familiar task for the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., which provides intensive depot maintenance and engineering support for a range of aircraft including the Hercules. It took four years, but workers there built new wings and custom containers to transport them to Germany.

A depot team from the Robins-based 402nd Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron accompanied the wings to Ramstein, where they and Airmen from the 86th Maintenance Group spent more than a month replacing the wings, engines, and other components.

The hard work paid off July 15, when tail 5736 took off for the first time in five years

“Watching her lift off the runway felt like watching a dream take flight,” Jordan said. “It wasn’t just a mechanical achievement, it was a deeply personal moment.”

On July 28, the C-130 arrived back in the U.S., though the Robins public affairs office could not immediately explain why the return was necessary.

“That first flight was a tribute to everyone who believed in her and worked tirelessly to bring her back to life,” Jordan added. “I’ll never forget the sound of her engines roaring to life and the sight of her wheels leaving the ground. It was magic!”