Santa tests out C-130 as replacement for reindeer

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Andrew Park
  • 94th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

For many families, Santa’s arrival to the mall, parade, local Christmas event, or wherever he may be remains a mystery. In fact, most of Santa’s life remains a mystery. For instance, how does he know when we’re sleeping or awake? How does he know if we’ve been bad or good? How does he know that we aren’t home because we’re spending Christmas with Grandma this year?

Although Santa might want to keep most of his goings on a secret, this year he decided to give a sneak peak at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia on a possible change to his mode of transportation this year during Operation Santa Lift. That’s right; Rudolph and the gang may actually participate in reindeer games this year, as the U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules is in consideration to take their place.

Many children at this preview were excited to bear witness to this test flight.

Brooklyn, from Sylvester, liked the thought of Santa traveling via C-130 because he’d have room for more presents. Plus, he’d have a more difficult time loading the desk she’s asking for on a sleigh versus loading it into the roomy C-130 cargo space.
Brooklyn and Kori may be on to something since the C-130 is able to airdrop loads of up to 42,000 pounds. That’s enough room for approximately 554 desks!

Kori, from Atlanta, agreed, “The plane is better because it’s big. It can carry more presents!”

Although in Kori’s case, the plane’s cargo hold may be an exaggeration for the fingernail polish kit she’s asking for. Space may not be an issue for her request, but time certainly is because she needs time to paint her nails and to have them dry before Christmas dinner. If Santa chooses the C-130, he will no longer have to worry about the reindeer’s stamina. Instead, he can depend on the Hercules’ four Rolls-Royce AE2100D3 turboprops to get that nail set to Kori at 410 mph.

Some of the children at Operation Santa Lift were skeptical of the feasibility of Santa replacing the reindeer with the C-130. An impromptu think tank of Santa devotees formed while waiting in line to meet him. They wanted to get the facts straight before they discussed this serious issue with Santa.

“How is it going to land?” posed Leah, of Canton.

“Maybe it could hover over the house?” offered Landon, of Acworth.

The majority of the think tank seemed to wildly agree with this logic, further fueling fires of creativity in their answers.

“Maybe he could even parachute the presents down into the chimney!” exclaimed Landon.

As interesting as it would be to see a C-130 hovering over homes in the stillness of Christmas Eve, many children felt the reindeer would be a much better choice. Many were concerned with a C-130 detracting from the magic of Christmas.

“The sleigh is more magical,” said Luke, of Powder Springs. “And, the C-130 is heavier.”

Eustace, of Delaware, agreed with the importance of keeping enchanted elements in Christmas traditions.

“The sleigh is better because there are flying reindeer, and it’s magical,” he said.

In addition to the C-130 being less magical, some children pointed out a few features lacking on the C-130 to make it a sure-fire success this holiday season. Siblings Jake and Naomi, of Kennesaw, Georgia fielded these responses.

“Santa needs guns to shoot the other planes,” said Jake, bothered by the idea of Santa’s new Christmas Eve transportation being delayed due to shared airspace with commercial airliners during the heavily-traveled holiday season.

For Naomi, however, it’s a debate of aesthetics.

“The sleigh is shiny,” she said thoughtfully. “Maybe if the plane were shinier it would be better.”

The thought of a candy-red Hercules seemed exciting to most of the children (and undoubtedly car collectors as well), but the possibility of repainting a C-130 in time for Christmas would be nearly impossible.

According to Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the C-130, “the C-130 is not painted all at one time. At various stages of production, areas such as wheel wells, flap wells, ramp edges and control surfaces are painted individually.”

Although there might not be enough time to implement the changes this year, this gives the young “Christmas engineers” more time to conduct the research necessary to optimize Santa’s trip next year.

One thing is certain, if they do decide to paint the C-130 candy red, they need to act fast. Online retailers are offering free shipping on paint, guaranteed to arrive by Christmas.