Chocks away!

I'm holding my breath every time I hear roaring propeller engines overhead.
Test flights with 'new' C-130 of the Belgian Air Force have started!
The transport aircraft (for the 15th-wing in Melsbroek) had been spotted at the Melsbroek airbase shortly after Sabena Technics in Zaventem had finished service on the winged cargo haul.
The 'new' plane was purchased from the American company Evergreen with money from insurance companies. It replaces the C-130 that was destroyed by a fire in one of the hangars of Sabena Technics about two years ago.

The technicians worked on the C-130E for eighteen months to make it meet the same requirements as the ten other C-130H's - a more recent version of the Lockheed aircraft - from the Belgian army.

The plane was built in 1965 and was used for weather observing duties in the United States. According to Evergreen the C-130 has clocked about 20,361 flight hours and the wings have been replaced.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the unit will officially be handed over to the military in early December once tests have been completed.