Salerno 1

As I mentioned earlier, our 5-6 hour flight from al Udeid to Bagram turned into a 48 ordeal.

While in flight, our crew made the decision to pick-up one additional passenger at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno in Khowst Province. Due to concerns about the security of the air space, our C-130 cork screwed down out of the sky over the FOB, and made a very hard landing on the gravel airstrip. I have flown a lot through the years, and I have never experienced an approach or landing quite like we did a couple of days ago.

While in the cork screw decent, I was only hoping that I wouldn't throw up. When we finally landed, the C-130 bounced twice on the runway before finally gripping the ground on the third touch. It was obvious to all that there was a problem as the plane began to slow down and taxi. Sure enough, we had blown a tire. The next 48 hours consisted of fixing the plane and waiting for the weather to subside. We finally made it into Bagram Monday morning.

Hand me a 9/16"....wait a minute, this thing is metric. Hold on...

C-130