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)
Air Force Conducts Test Launch of Minuteman III ICBM
May 21, 2025
The Air Force tested an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif,. at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time May. 21. The successful test saw the missile equipped with a single reentry vehicle travel more than 4,200 miles to strike a test site near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall…