41년 동안 C-130 계열 비행시간 1만 시간을 달성한 미공군의 Gary Hogg 퇴역 중령

[위종민]

미공군의 Gary Hogg 퇴역 중령이 플로리다 주 에글린 공군기지에서 41년 동안 C-130 계열 수송기를 몰면서 지난 9월 24일 MC-130H의 일상 전자장비 현대화 시험 임무비행  도중 비행시간 1만 시간을 달성했다고 하네요. 퇴역한 뒤에도 미공군 물자사령부의 계약직으로 각종 C-130 계열기의 시험비행을 하면서 이뤄낸 기록입니다. 

미공군사관학교를 1983년 졸업했고, 애초 A-10이나 RF-4를 몰고 싶었으나 C-130을 타게 됐지만 여러 승무원과 함께 비행하고 모두가 임무를 완수하기 위해 협력하는 방식이 마음에 들어 C-130을 계속 타게 되었다고 하네요. 

1993년 아이티 구호임무를 위해 그 곳으로 향하던 MH-53 페이브 로우 14대에 공중급유하던 도중 심한 뇌우를 만나 대열에서 이탈한 페이브 로우를 찾아 연료를 보내주고, 연료가 모자라 플로리다주 키웨스트로 회항했던 기억이 가장 인상깊다고 합니다. 폭풍으로 섬 전체의 전력이 끊긴 상황에서 비상연료가 바닥을 드러냈는데, 첫 2번의 착륙을 실패하고 마지막 3번째 착륙에서 겨우 성공했다고 합니다. 

퇴역한 뒤에는 민간 시험 조종사로 여전히 각종 C-130을 조종하고 있으며, 모든 C-130을 조종한 풍부한 경험은 물자수송사령부 1파견대의 417 비행시험대대의 연속성의 원천이라고 합니다. 

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-c-130-pilot-10000-flight-hours

Gary Hogg, Air Force Materiel Command, completes his C-130H preflight checks prior to a historic flight Sept. 24, 2024 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)

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Herk For Life: Test Pilot Hits 10,000 Flight Hours in the C-130

Oct. 3, 2024 | By David Roza

If there were a permanent residency requirement for the C-130, Gary Hogg has hit it multiple times over. The retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and current test pilot at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. recently eclipsed 10,000 flight hours flying the transport plane, equivalent to about 416 days spread across a 41-year career.

“It’s a milestone in a career I never knew was possible, but I am so thankful I had the chance to live it,” the 65-year-old said in a recent press release from Eglin’s 96th Test Wing. “When I stop to think about the last 40-plus years, I know I have truly been blessed.”

It all started on Nov. 23, 1983, when the Air Force Academy graduate and Kentucky native first took off from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., during qualification training on the C-130 Hercules, affectionately known as the “Herk.” Hogg originally wanted to fly the RF-4 reconnaissance fighter or the A-10 attack jet, but working with a crew on the C-130 won him over.

“It was more than adventure,” he said in the release. “I knew the C-130 was the right decision for me. I loved the concept of flying with a crew and the way everyone worked together to get the mission done.”

Gary Hogg, Air Force Materiel Command, inspects his C-130H prior to a historic flight Sept. 24, 2024 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)

After training, it was on to a tour in Europe. Then, starting in 1988, he flew special operations missions aboard the C-130E and MC-130E Combat Talon variants. Like its newer MC-130J cousins today, the MC-130E was equipped with aerial refueling pods to fill up special operations and search and rescue helicopters. 

Those pods came in handy during a particularly difficult mission in 1993, where Hogg flew an MC-130E supporting 14 MH-53 Pave Low helicopters en route to Haiti. When heavy thunderstorms separated a helicopter from the formation, Hogg and his crew found it and gave the Pave Low enough fuel to make it to Haiti, but it left the MC-130E so low that they had to divert to Key West, Fla.

Nothing was easy that day; storms had taken out power across the island, making it difficult to land the $75 million aircraft. Well below emergency fuel levels, Hogg’s first two landing attempts were unsuccessful, but on the third he finally made it, which was fortunate since he did not have enough gas for a fourth.

Hogg went on to fly in Air Force Special Operations Command’s standards and eval‎uation division, then do flight testing at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. He flew most of the military’s C-130 variants before arriving at Eglin as a lieutenant colonel in 2004, where he retired but kept working the same job as a civilian test pilot.

In the 20 years since then, flying the C-130 is still a treat for Hogg, who is now the standardization and eval‎uation command chief pilot at Air Force Materiel Command’s Detachment 1.

“Each model and variant can execute so many different missions, it is impossible to get bored with doing the same thing all the time,” he said.

That’s good for Hogg’s younger colleagues at Det. 1 and the 417th Flight Test Squadron who get to learn from his four decades behind the yoke.

“He’s absolutely a source of continuity here,” said Det. 1 commander Col. Brian Taylor. “He has experience flying every Air Force C-130 variant, and our unit leverages that experience and his relationships with the operational units, to oversee the diverse mission sets of the C-130 operations.”

Hogg crossed the 10,000 hour mark on Sept 24 in an MC-130H during a routine avionics modernization test mission. After landing, his 11-year-old grandson, Anthony Lindstrom, helped marshal him to a parking spot where Hogg’s friends and family congratulated him.

“The thought that keeps coming to me is how much I enjoy the team that it takes to fly a C-130,” he said. “A smooth-running team is just pure joy in the air.”

A 96th Test Wing maintainer helps 11-year-old Anthony Lindstrom marshal in his grandfather and pilot, Gary Hogg, after a successful flight Sept. 24, 2024 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)