Photo By Samuel King Jr. | Gary Hogg, Air Force Materiel Command, completes his C-130H preflight checks prior to...... read more read more
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EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Ten thousand hours. It’s equivalent to 416 days, more than a full year of time. That’s the amount of hours Gary Hogg spent piloting the Air Force’s various C-130 Hercules models across his 41-year career.
Hogg, an Air Force Materiel Command standards and evaluation civilian pilot, surpassed the 10K mark Sept. 24, 2024 in a C-130H II Hercules during a routine avionics modernization program test mission.
“It’s a milestone in a career I never knew was possible, but I am so thankful I had the chance to live it,” said the 65-year-old Kentucky native. “When I stop to think about the last 40-plus years, I know I have truly been blessed.”
Hogg’s first C-130 hour began Nov. 23, 1983 at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas during qualification training after graduating the Air Force Academy and flight school. Only two days after completing aircraft training at his next assignment, Pope AFB, Hogg deployed on a flying rotation of Europe. He said that tour was when he fell in love with the aircraft that would define his career.
“It was more than adventure,” said Hogg, who initially wanted to fly the RF-4 or A-10 Thunderbolt II before choosing the C-130. “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.”
In 1988, he became a special operator operating C-130E and MC-130E Combat Talon models. It was among these logged hours; Hogg experienced his most harrowing mission. In 1993, his MC-130E crew provided support to 14 MH-53 Pave Low helicopters in route to Haiti during heavy thunderstorms. Hogg and his crew had to find a separated helicopter and provide fuel to it to ensure it could land safely.
Low on fuel themselves, Hogg’s crew had to land in Key West, only the storm took out power across the island. With his aircraft well below emergency fuel levels, his first two landing attempts were unsuccessful. He said he had enough fuel for one more landing attempt.
“Fortunately, we were able to land, and we found out our MH-53 also made it to a successful landing in Haiti,” said Hogg, whose 10K accomplishment averages to approximately 243 hours per year for his 41 years.
Special operations eventually moved him to the Air Force Special Operations Command standards and evaluation division, where he was introduced to C-130 flight testing in 1993. This position would provide a glimpse of his future second Air Force career as a civilian pilot 11 years later.
Hogg then racked up more experience and hours flying most of the Defense Department’s C-130 variants during his duty at the aircraft’s depot at Robins AFB, Georgia. He finally ended up here, in stan/eval, but this time for AFMC as a lieutenant colonel in 2004.
After retiring from that active-duty position, he began his second career as a civilian, in the very same role.
“It was a great place to be, as it opened opportunities to fly many other aircraft in my capacity as a command evaluator pilot,” said Hogg, who estimated his 10K hours would be more than two million miles flown.
As a civilian pilot here, he’s piled on more C-130 hours through another 20-year career. He said it’s his AFMC Det. 1 role that has kept him continuously engaged and in the air.
“I have the opportunity to test new models and capabilities, I get to accomplish even more with the C-130,” said Hogg, who also serves as the AFMC unit’s lead for the tanker, transport, and bomber teams. “Each model and variant can execute so many different missions, it is impossible to get bored with doing the same thing all the time.”
In his role as the standardization and evaluation command chief pilot, Hogg tests the aircraft’s new changes and innovations, but he also acts as wealth of past C-130 knowledge for Det. 1 and its Eglin partner, the 417th Flight Test Squadron.
“He's absolutely a source of continuity here,” said Col. Brian Taylor, AFMC Det. 1 commander. “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’s friends and family were on the flightline to greet him upon landing after surpassing the 10K hours milestone. Anthony Lindstrom, 11, helped the maintainers marshal his grandfather’s aircraft to its parking spot to complete the test mission.
When asked to reflect about the milestone mission, he remembered the exhilaration of flying with other Airmen.
“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.”
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2024 13:54 |
| Story ID: | 482347 |
| Location: | EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 248 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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