The crew of a C-130 transport from Pope AFB, N.C., overcame the failure of two of the aircraft’s four engines during a flight March 19 in Southwest Asia to safely deliver five wounded personnel to their destination. While in flight, the No. 2 engine began leaking oil and had to be shut down. About an hour later, the No. 3 engine began malfunctioning and eventually had to be turned off as well. As if that wasn’t enough, the aircraft’s autopilot, radar, and No. 1 compass system also went dead. But through it all the crew persevered and reached the destination, landing the C-130 without incident. “While I have shutdown engines in flight before and regularly operate aircraft that have certain degraded capabilities, I have never faced such a compounded emergency before,” said Capt. Steve Cheek of the 43rd Operations Support Squadron, who piloted the fateful mission. Amazingly the aircraft was fixed and flying the next day, albeit with a new No. 2 engine. (Pope report by 2nd Lt. Chris Hoyler)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…