No Spam wrote:

the 'freefall' delivery scenario..

I imagine it would be safer to put the cargo in the water on special
pallets (already being done) for surface pick-up. Dropping moving
cargo onto the flight deck? Well that's just plain scary... I'm sure
it *could* be made to work but at what cost; at what risk to ship,
acft (C-130 and those on deck), personnel; and why even attempt if
there are reasonable alternatives?
("Rig the barricades! Incoming delivery for ATO...")
/lac/

What if you want to use an aircraft larger than the C130 - something
that could land on the carrier (or maybe couldn't even land) but
couldn't take off again. (whoa, what about a situation where the
delivery was *SO* important it would be worth it even though the plane
is pushed off the side after the delivery."

What if the sea state was really bad and in water recovery was not
possible? Granted it would make the close approach of the aircraft
very difficult and the cargo more "lively" on deck.

But hey, we're talking about unusual ideas for the unusual situations
that come up in warfight right.

Jay