A long long time ago, I fell for one of those "First Flying Lesson -- $15 (that shows how long ago) and took about 30 hours of lessons before reality settled in and I realized how much this whole "flying thing" would cost a 20's-something college student.
I soloed in eight hours and then spent the next ten or so practicing touch and go's -- taking off, flying out of control space, entering control space and landing only to rev up the engine and take off again.
This plane is a bit larger than my Cessna 150 and the airfield is a bit smaller than the one I was using in New England.
This event happened about ten years prior to my flying experience and this is the first time I have heard of it. Amazing skill for all hands. From SHOF:
C-130 Hercules on the deck of the USS Forrestal
When one reviews the encyclopedic range of accomplishments by the Hercules and its valiant aircrews over the years, surely one of the most astounding took place in October of 1963 when the U.S. Navy decided to try to land a Hercules on an aircraft carrier: Was it possible? Who would believe that the big, four-engine C-130 with its bulky fuselage and 132-foot wing span - could land on the deck of a carrier?
Not only was it possible, it was done, in moderately rough seas 500 miles out in the North Atlantic off the Boston Coast. In so doing, the airplane became the largest and heaviest airplane to land on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, a record that holds to this day.
When Lt.James H. Flatley III was told about his new assignment, he thought somebody was pulling his leg: "Operate a C-130 off an aircraft carrier? Somebody's got to be kidding, " he said.