C-130 JATO 😮 : Rocket Assisted Takeoff

[edgar]

I flew in it in 2006 for the NAS JAX Air Show. We delivered the JATO and then the crew asked who wanted to fly during the show and I gladly said yes. Awesome experience!

[fillgraves]

I fucking miss watching Fat Albert do his thing

[leef]

They really don’t use the JATO anymore but still very cool. Of course c130s are still in service. Modern ones are referred to as the Super Hercules, they are fitted with turboprops now

[bluskytoo]

i was a USAF C-130 FE for 20 years. Funny sim story. The JATO in the simulator worked but never used or even thought about. On the day of multiple no-win scenarios with a couple engines out, fire, hydraulics going out, electrical failures etc, i reached down and armed it, then when we were about to crash as planned by the instructors i fired the JATO and we flew off and away like a homesick angel, LOL . Yes they werent happy but gave us ingenuity points.

[twwtjohns]

Imagine how much stress that puts on that airframe.

[guaranteedsuccess]

I was on one when they hit the JATOs and we all were in cargo seats, not actual seats with seatbelts, the cargo net was fashioned into the shape of a seat. We all rolled back into a pile on the cargo net laughing our asses off. Good times.

[Killerbee]

I was lucky enough to see him do a rocket assist take off in the 90’s. Damn cool stuff!!

[WalterDWormack]

They don't make a JATO C-130 Hercules. They make a C-130 Hercules Transport, that can be outfitted with JATO Liftoff capability.

[ajtheflame]

>Jet assisted takeoff
>Rockets

[mikelincoln]

During my Navy days we launch target drones on land and sea using Jato rockets. Burned 7 tenth of a second 0-120 mph what a hoot! Dangerous stuff but it was cool..

[williamenglehart]

The model that last used JATO in 2009 was a C-130T. The current "Fat Albert" is a C-130J that doesn't have the means to use JATO as the last was used in an airshow in 2009..

[charlesalvin]

Actually, the U.S. military supply of JATO bottles ran out in 2009. The company that made them stopped making them in 2009. The last KNOWN supply of JATO bottles was used by Fat Elbert, (BLUE ANGELS' support aircraft) which was the last aircraft that used them. They used their last supply in Nov 2009 @ the Blue Angels' homecoming airshow in Pensacola.

[dzl]

I saw this 7 years ago practicing for an air show in jersey. They were at griffas afb practicing. It was unreal what she can do.

[nocovanco]

That jato assisted landing is a thing of beauty.

[duanepierson]

Yet one of the many labors of Hercules.

[AveryLindsay-mb]

It's impossible not to smile while watching your videos.

[mrchew]

There was a plan to rescue the iranian hostages by landing a c-130 inside a soccer stadium using these... Both to slow down for landing short, and to speed up for short take off.

[bradrankin]

I’ve seen this in person many times during the Blue Angels airshow…. And let me tell you people it is extremely loud and amazing!

[johngogos]

I walk through one of those with my son in the air show in Massachusetts . Those planes can hold six Greyhound buses 2 side by side up to three times .

[mikesmith]

I've been working on C-130's in the Air Force for 14 years, and I've never heard or seen this before. Amazing