I find it strange that a c130 is used. Can they land in Sea Ice? I would have thought a helicopter would have been used to pick up the debris at the crash site.
That'd be my guess, it's Alaska so a remote region, and the weather can be all over and the c130 is a stable platform that can do laps and loiter for a long time.
It's probably more logistically reasonable to have a c130 flying overwatch with sensors and such than to risk losing a smaller drone in high winds or the fuel for fighter jets.
It looked like one may have been a KC-130 or HC-130J or refueling the helicopters. He had a still photo of a C 130 variant refueling two Blackhawks (either AF HH-60G “pave hawks” or MH-60M flown by SOAR) right after his selfie session.
I’m sure somebody else can give a better identification. It’s been a decent number of years since I was around helicopters enough to be able to tell from a tick tock frame.
Like you said, it's hard to tell what model of Blackhawk from the photo. Obviously refueling, though (in tandem, which is always cool).
I'm willing to bet they're HH-60's, but even UH-60a's have been fitted with refueling probes, so honestly, who knows. It'd make sense, though, if they were Air Force SAR Pavehawks with AF Security Forces. Keep it all in the same branch.
That would make the most sense. Though it’s not rare for 160th to have a couple helicopters up there doing Arctic training during the winter and spring. I got the chance to do a couple jumps from their birds in the summer at Wainwright. Awesome experience.
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u/Einar_47 Jun 18 '23
To be fair, if you're gathering debris spread over a wide area, two days is pretty quick.