Hercules: Part I

Hey everybody, Brandon again, and since there has been no progress on any blog in one week, I decided to blog about my day. I had an "orientation flight" set for today at 0700. I decided to wake up at five. I set my alarm, and somehow silenced it in my sleep. So I woke up at 0545, meaning I had to leave in 30 minutes. We were still the first one's there. Mom dropped me off at the airport, where me and some other Civil Air Patrol cadets were transported to an Air Force Reserve Base 75 miles away. There were 43 cadets on this particular flight in a C-130 Hercules. For all you non-airplane types, a C-130 is a very large, four engine, turbo-prop, cargo plane:

A turbo-prop is a propeller that is powered by a jet engine. We took off at 1100, climbed to 13,000 feet, and flew to Niagara Falls. We then descended to 8,000 feet and returned to the Base. During times in the flight, we were aloud to get up and walk around in the cargo bay and on the flight deck. Also during the flight, the hatch at the back of the cargo bay was opened up so we were looking right out of the tail:

We landed at 1230 and were back at the original airport by 1500. Mom then picked me up and we all went home. I then compiled all my pictures and videos of the flight to create another world famous Brandon Kopp video. However I am still missing pictures of the cadets with the plane and Niagara Falls. The video will be posted in part II. Until then...

*Anyone between 12 and 18 who is interested in Civil Air Patrol, this is the link to the CAP website: http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/html/index.htm