Fulton Recovery System

[playtym]

There were nine MC-130E Combat Talons equipped with the surface-to-air Fulton Recovery System, a safe, rapid method of recovering personnel or equipment from either land or water, It involved the use of a large, helium-filled balloon used to raise a 450-foot nylon lift line. The MC-130 E would fly towards the line at 150 miles per hour, snagging it with scissors-like arms located on the aircraft nose and the person or equipment would be lifted off, experiencing less shock than that caused by a parachute opening. Aircrew members would then use a hydraulic winch to pull the person or equipment aboard through the rear cargo door.

The aircraft was also equipped with cables running from the nose to each wingtip to push the lift line past the aircraft should the pilot miss the line.

A fatal accident in 1982, the only fatality in 17 years of live pick-ups, damaged the credibility of the personnel pick-up system within the special operations community. That, along with the increased availability of long-range air-refuelable MH-53J Pave Low and MH-47E Chinook helicopters, and tightening budgets, caused AFSOC to deactivate the capability.

A Combat Talon from the 8th Special Operations Squadron featured in the movie Air Force One.
"Everything we did in the movie was something we could actually do in real life," said Lt. Col. Jeff Alderfer, 8th Special Operations Squadron director of operations and mission commander during the filming.
The members of the 8th who participated in the making of Air Force One were tight-lipped about their role in the film. But they did say they were part of the president's rescue attempt from Air Force One during the final scenes of the movie.
Beyond that, the crews who participated in the making of Air Force One were true to their AFSOC heritage as the silent warriors and would not reveal any Hollywood secrets.

The system also made an appearance in the movie "Green Berets" starring John Wayne.

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/1061/mc13034is0.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8998/mc130refuel06om5.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5217/0322782vs1.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4355/0226337mw3.jpg

http://img276.imageshack.us/img276/5187/mc13049bi4.jpg

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1056/mc13013ot8.jpg

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2457/mc13015qj3.jpg


I'm not sure whether these were official patches, but I came across them somewhere on the net.

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/5922/skyhookfw5.jpg http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5355/4208302c0fl7.jpg

Any members with further information or corrrections to any of my info please post it.

[Victis Honor]

lol they do that in a james bond movie:)

[playtym]

lol they do that in a james bond movie:)

Oh yes, I don't remember the name - the one where they crash land the Vulcan into the sea.

[Critter]

There's a Stunt for "JackAss"!!!

[D-gin]

My old man had to train on this "once" while he was in Army.

He said it was one of the most intense things he'd ever done.

[PIMP]

It is also featured in the TV series "E-Ring" and "The Unit".

[playtym]

My old man had to train on this "once" while he was in Army.

He said it was one of the most intense things he'd ever done.

If this was available commercially it would be THE most popular ride at the amusement park!! Without a doubt!!

[D-gin]

If this was available commercially it would be THE most popular ride at the amusement park!! Without a doubt!!
Without a doubt....My dad gets a grin on his face just from me asking about it.

[madjack]

My old man had to train on this "once" while he was in Army.

He said it was one of the most intense things he'd ever done.

I knew an old guy at Ft Leavenworth. He worked as a consultant to the Department of Joint and Combined Ops. Lots of contractors wear crests, tabs or wings on their security badge holder to show their hearts were pure in the old days. Roland wore GLIDER wings, and had been MACVSOG in the very early 60s. We used to credit him with staging the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Tough old dude and smart as hell. Anyway, he had a card stating he'd taken a ride on the Fulton system, and said once was definitely enough.

[Roy Batty]

Fvck that!. I'll walk out thanks :D

[Ghostwolf]

Oh yes, I don't remember the name - the one where they crash land the Vulcan into the sea.


Thunderball

[DeadMeatXM2]

There were nine MC-130E Combat Talons equipped with the surface-to-air Fulton Recovery System, a safe, rapid method of recovering personnel or equipment from either land or water...

It wasn't exactly "safe" which is why they dont do it anymore.

The main problem was the slipstream created by the -130. There are documented (I dont know how "well" or "public" they are - I'm taking this from what I recall of the article and corrections published in a few months worth of AirForces Monthlies) cases of a few times when they didnt get the guys into the fuselage quick enough, and the buffeting from the slipstream would cause their bodies to spasm. This caused them to roll back out of the aircraft once the crew had got them in and disconnected them from the cables (as I understand it they had to disconnect the hoistee pretty quick, but I dont know why)

Anyho, it caused a few deaths, so they stopped using it.

Edit: Also, as this system was phased out in the mid-80's it would have been the MH-47D which was "replacing" it (since the E model wasnt certified until late 1992 - with deliveries spanning 92-95 in the E's) :)

[andrew_rsa]

It is also featured in the TV series "E-Ring" and "The Unit".

just about to mention that :)

[Vince S]

Also featured in the John Wayne's movie "The Green Berets" hehe

But I prefer a good ol' STABO rig :lol:

[ZoomOne]

I was assigned to Detachment 2, 1st Special Operations Wing at Pope Air Force Base, NC from May '69 to Aug '70 as a parachute rigger. We had four of the specially equipped C-130's. My job was to pack the chutes used to drop the loads, assist the loadmasters in rigging the loads for dropping, assist in training crews deploying who would use this system, and go out and assist in doing practice drops and recoveries. We used 150 pound sand bags instead of "Joe" the dummy for practice. We would do 25 pick ups per practice day or night. At night the lines had internal wiring with strobe lights so the pilot would know where to "hit the line". These were good for one time unfortunately so we didn't do a lot of night time practice. Still it was pretty cool to see. Daytime there were bright orange plastic flags used as line markers. It was something to see when that C-130 was bearing down on you not very high off the ground. I did do a couple recoveries in the plane and that was awesome standing on that ramp. You are strapped into the plane but still pretty exciting. Having done that I can't see how someone recovered would ever fall back out. We had some pretty good procedures on getting the person (sand bag or dummy in our case) back into the plane safely and secured. Once I was putting all of our equipment away at the end of a long practice day and backed our Dodge Power Wagon over our recovery winch used to winch the balloon down. As a lowly "two striper" at the time I knew my butt was mud but fortunately our Civil Engineering folks were able to fix it fairly easily. I loved that assignment and the people I worked with. I still have my Skyhook patch like the one pictured in an earlier post. As I recall that patch was worn as a shoulder patch on your flight suit and flight jacket. Like a dummy I volunteered for a tour in Southeast Asia and my tour at Det. 2 was short lived.

[ZoomOne]

It wasn't exactly "safe" which is why they dont do it anymore.

The main problem was the slipstream created by the -130. There are documented (I dont know how "well" or "public" they are - I'm taking this from what I recall of the article and corrections published in a few months worth of AirForces Monthlies) cases of a few times when they didnt get the guys into the fuselage quick enough, and the buffeting from the slipstream would cause their bodies to spasm. This caused them to roll back out of the aircraft once the crew had got them in and disconnected them from the cables (as I understand it they had to disconnect the hoistee pretty quick, but I dont know why)

Anyho, it caused a few deaths, so they stopped using it. At the time I was assigned with these folks I was told of one death which happened during an exercise somewhere OCONUS (outside the continental US) with a live person. Apparently the "fending lines" which go from the nose to the edge of the wing somehow snapped the line. This happened after the person was lifted from the ground and he tumbled back down to his death. They also told me that they had pulled someone in during a live recovery that was unconcious from spinning. You had to cross your arms over your chest and you would "ride" the airstream as you were reeled in. If you have one or both arms flailing around you would spin. I never heard of anyone recovered in spasms but I'm sure it is possible. This isn't the most natural thing in the world to be doing. The reason you get them in quickly is because they normally are pretty freaked out by the experience and you want to secure, calm and check them for injuries as quickly as possible. I can recall very rare occasions when the aircraft winch would mess up and it would take some doing to get it functioning properly and get the load (sandbags in our case) into the aircraft. I'm sure that even seconds added would seem like an enternity to a live person.