A Crack In The Barrel Of The Propeller, US Air Force Grounded Hundreds Of C-130H Hercules

After the incident that occurred in mid-2019, the United States Air Force (USAF) again conducted mass grounding on hundreds of units of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft fleet. 

Although the crack problem faced is not the same as the case in 2019, the grounded 100 Hercules units have had an impact on the operational readiness of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) of the US Air Force.

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Quoted from DefenseNews.com (1/9/2022), it was stated that a number of cracks were found in several units of the old variant, namely the C-130H Hercules. The initial indication of a crack is found in the propeller barrel component. 

AMC confirmed on Friday that 128 C-130Hs were currently flightless, and there was no information on how long it would take to replace all of the components on the damaged propeller.

Earlier, AMC said Tuesday that 116 C-130Hs were grounded due to concerns their propeller components were damaged, and that inspections over several days would show how many of them were affected. And as it turned out, the AMC said the ban was "widespread" and affected the C-130's strength in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.

Air Force AMC's unofficial Facebook page posted several photos showing the propeller barrels in question mounted on 100 C-130Hs, 8 MC-130H combat variants, 7 EC-130H electronic warfare variants, and 1 TC-130H.

In a statement, Air Mobility Command said maintenance personnel at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in Georgia discovered a persistent leak emanating from the C-130H's propellers during a test run of the aircraft's engines following the depot maintenance phase.

AMC ordered an immediate field-level visual inspection of all C-130Hs with the propellers of the older 54H60 model, and then performed a metallurgical review and stress analysis. Following the review, the Air Mobility Command issued another order to immediately replace the faulty propeller.

This is the second time in more than three years that a large number of C-130Hs have been grounded due to a propeller problem. 

Fortunately, the same problem was not found on the C-130J Super Hercules and the newer C-130H which had the propellers upgraded with the Collins Aerospace eight-blade NP2000 system.

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In the 2019 mass grounding incident, the case was a crack in the lower center wing joint – also known as the “rainbow fitting.” 

With the case of cracks affecting hundreds of variants of the C-130H, it becomes an important concern for a number of countries using the C-130H Hercules, including Indonesia, which operates a number of C-130Hs, including the C-130H which was used by the Australian Air Force.

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