KC-130R escorted to final flight on Okinawa

Courtesy Photo | Nick Dicandia stands in front of KC-130R 160622 before boarding the plane on its final flight on Nov. 14. Dicandia was part of the plane's flight crew during its first and final flight.  

11.21.2008

Story by Lance Cpl. Tyler Hlavac 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

By Tyler Hlavac
III Marine Expeditionary Force

Aircraft lot number 160622 had a good run during its 30-year Marine Corps lifespan, but nothing, not even the KC-130R, lasts forever.

Nick Dicandia experienced the beginning and the end of the craft while serving as an aircrew member aboard the final flight of the same KC-130R he served on during its maiden flight 30 years ago.

Dicandia, a contract field team supervisor working for the Lockheed Martin aeronautics company, is currently assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152, aboard Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

His job is to help pilots transition from the KC-130R aircraft to the newer KC-130J, which replaced the KC-130Rs in VMGR 152's aircraft inventory.

But for Dicandia, aircraft 160622 is special.

Dicandia first 'met' the aircraft when he was a gunnery sergeant, working as a flight engineer for the MCAS Cherry Point-based VGMR-252. At the time, VMGR-252 was looking to update their squadron of 17-year old KC-130F aircraft with the new KC-130R.

The squadron sent a flight crew to Marietta, Ga., to take a course on how to operate the KC-130Rs.

Dicandia, along with a fellow group of "senior, heavy hitter Marines," was chosen from the squadron based on his level of expertise and skill. The crew was trained as instructors and flew the aircraft from Lockheed Martin's production factory in Marietta to Cherry Point, N.C. in 1978.

The KC-130R aircraft was 'mind blowing' at the time, Dicandia said.

"To us it was like a starship. The KC-130F had not been modified since 1960, so comparing it with the KC-130R was like comparing night and day," he said.

"Some of the features were just amazing; including the external wing tanks; its improved propulsion system and its ability to haul far more weight. It gave us so much pride seeing the Marine Corps finally get their hands on the latest technology instead of always being out of the loop."

Dicandia was later reassigned and parted ways with the KC-130R he had grown to love.

After retiring in 1996, Dicandia was immediately hired by Lockheed Martin. He initially worked at the company's factory in Marietta. Dicandia worked there until July 2001 and then was assigned to MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., for the company's KC-130J transition program.

It was there he reunited with the KC-130R.

Dicandia trained Marine flight crews on how to operate the Corps' new KC-130J aircraft, just as he had been trained 23 years earlier on how to operate the KC-130R.

While there, Dicandia waved farewell to aircraft 160622 when it was deployed to Okinawa to join the VGMR 152 inventory.

After training numerous flight crews at Cherry Point from 2003 to 2005, and later in MCAS Miramar from 2005 to 2007, Dicandia reunited with the aircraft again in 2007 when he was reassigned by Lockheed to VGMR 152 MCAS Futenma.

Seeing the aircraft again after four years was nostalgic, Dicandia said.
"It brought back a lot of memories for me," he said. "I spent hundreds of thousands of flight hours inside that aircraft and after a while, it starts to become part of you."

But it was nearing the end, and it was time to let go.

VGMR 152 is replacing its aging fleet of KC-130R aircraft with the new KC-130J, and aircraft 160622 went on its final flight Nov. 15 to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where it will be stored at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.

The end was bittersweet for Dicandia, who unhesitatingly accepted the offer from pilots of VGMR-152 to serve as an aircrew member on the final flight.

Dicandia said the aircraft is capable of serving the Corps a few more years and he is sad to see it go.

"I'm really glad I get to be a part of the aircraft's final flight," said Dicandia. "The aircraft still has some life left in it and I hope a private company spends the money to buy the aircraft from Davis-Monthan's storage; that someone can find some use in it."

Dicandia said that in many ways the life cycle of people and aircraft are the same.

"After awhile all the old warhorses get put out to pasture," Dicandia said, pausing to reflect on his memories of the aircraft. "Just like I eventually reached my end of service for the Corps, so did this aircraft. But then again people, like aircraft, eventually move on."

• Date Taken: 11.21.2008
• Date Posted: 11.23.2008 18:26
• Story ID: 26691