From 1971 to 1978 I flew C130A's with the Tennessee Air National Guard in
Nashville Tennessee. The C130A models were built between 1955 and1957 and
were beginning to show their age. This story happened to a very good
friend of mine about 30 years ago.
My friend was giving a check ride to a new pilot and was shooting short
field landings on Runway 2R in Nashville. On a short field landing, all
throttles are pulled into full reverse the instant the landing gear
contacts the runway. On one landing, the student pilot slammed the
throttles into full reverse without a pause in idle reverse to check that
all props had reversed. The No. 4 prop did not go into reverse. Three
engines in full reverse and one in full forward thrust instantly converted
a 100 foot wide 5000 foot long runway into a 100 foot long 5000 foot wide
runway. My friend had his hand on the throttles backing up the student
pilot in the left seat. He instantly recognized what had happened and
slammed all four throttles full forward. The C130 had turned away from the
row of hangers on the right side of the runway so he was able to take off
after rolling a few hundred feet through the grass. When the C130 broke
ground, it was headed straight at the control tower on the opposite side of
the field and a steep turn was required to miss it. My friend pulled up on
downwind, shut down the engine with the malfunctioning prop, and declared
an emergency. The tower came back with "Had your hands full there for a
minute didn't you."
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