Here, There and Everywhere Else

Hercules

Many of you will likely recall the domestic pilots' dispute of 1989.It began on 18th August and continued for months. 1989 was a time of severe restraint, but the Australian Federation of Air Pilots sought a wage rise of 29.4%. The Labor government, in power at the time had struck a      deal with the ACTU to limit increases to 8% and the pilots went nowhere fast. The strike went on for months and all domestic services would have ground to a halt, had it not been for the RAAF and the Australian government calling in the services of overseas carriers.

My husband, daughter who was then two and a half and I holidayed in Bali and Singapore in September 1989 and yes, I know two and a half is a tricky age at which to take a toddler overseas. We spent about five days in Singapore and six in Bali. We enjoyed especially the laid back atmosphere of Bali, swimming in the resort pools and the food; or rather John and I did, but more details on that later.

We flew back to Australia on a Qantas flight at about midnight as I recall. Not an ideal time of night when you're travelling with a fractious two and a half year old.

Anyhow, landing back in Oz, we'd almost forgotten about the pilots' dispute and discovered that we were to fly back to Adelaide from Melbourne on a massive RAAF Hercules. We had to wait another hour or so to board the Hercules and for some reason that I can't remember very well, we had to rearrange some luggage. Of course Joanna was getting more tired and cranky by the minute, as were her stressed parents. Not an ideal end to a really great holiday.

They don't call this plane Hercules for nothing. I had been shown the flight deck of a Hercules before, back in about 1974 when Airlines of SA used to fly to Woomera via Edinburgh, an RAAF base. I was astounded at the size of the Hercules flight deck. It seemed big enough to hold a conference in. There couldn't be any better name for this aircraft than Hercules. Other facts about Hercules are that  it has a top speed of 590km/hour, a weight of 34, 380kg and a wingspan of 40metres. It is otherwise known as the C-130 and is an American aircraft designed by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. I believe the RAAF were using the C-130J-30, but these were delivered between 1999 and 2001, so that wouldn't have been the one that transported us.

Now we were to sit where soldiers usually travelled in the main body of the fuselage. It was an entirely different experience from flying in a commercial airliner. There were no windows and two rows of people sat facing one another, backs against the fuselage and firmly strapped in.  (some people today could learn from that). Strange indeed.

Here I can show you a photo. Our RAAF flight attendant did a brilliant performance of the  cabin demo. He had a great sense of humour and had us all laughing at this rather surreal experience. He and his co flight attendant handed out lunch packs, which John and I devoured, but not Jo, who slept all the way home luckily.

We were able to feel every bit of turbulence and of course there was no way of looking out of windows to see clouds. Also the unexpected noises and grinds of the Herc were quite different from the commercial airliners which we'd flown on before. It was a bit alarming at times. Over the Adelaide hills it was a case of shake, rattle and roll, but Jo slept on and we landed safely. When the Herc had finished its landing run and taxied to its position on the tarmac, down opposite the TAA side of the old Adelaide airport, the walkway was lowered and we all walked out into bright daylight and spring sun showers.

I'll always be glad that we experienced a flight on the Hercules .Others may have had conventional journeys on larger jets of the overseas airlines, but I've always enjoyed trying out different airlines and aircraft. And as a one-off, this flight was incomparable.

The RAAF flights ended on 15th December 1989 and after the12th January 1990, flights slowly returned to normal as replacement pilots were hired.