Some of you have asked what it's like flying jets off and on an aircraft carrier...

The following two links provide a good look at blue water operations... A Naval Aviation euphenism for being in the middle of the ocean at night flying off an aircraft carrier that's pitching up and down and rolling back and forth with no place to land except back on the boat even if the bird is full of gas... and it never is...

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The hardest part of blue water ops is getting out of the bird after you trap aboard...  there's usually a good bit of the ejection seat pad firmly lodged in the grasp of the gluteal cleft...

Cheers,

V/R, Batch

Very nice flicks Batch! 

I was with the 1st Marine Air Wing attached to VMA-AW-242 from Oct of 65 til June of 68.  We took the first squadron on A6A Intruders in country in October of 66.  I remember deploying to somewhere in LA in the summer of 66 for carrier quals and listening to all the pilots bitchin bout how hard it was to land at night!!

When I discharged in June of 68 I used most of my musterin out money to enroll in Flight School in Ft Worth.  My first night flight with my instructor was from Ft Worth to Denton for 2 touch n goes and then back to Ft Worth.  When we got to Denton the instructor told me to set up on a long final for my first attempt.....I learned that night why one of the first things he told me when I started lessons was " If I ever tell you I've got it just let go of the controls"!!!  LOL!!  I was ready to start my flare out about 25 ft above the tarmac when he shouted " I GOT IT " !!!!!  Of course, that was exactly what he expected me to do and just wanted to make a lasting impression on me I guess!!!

After watchin that video I can say without reservation that I would have no problem landing on a carrier....cause they'd play hell ever gettin me to take off...LOL!!!!

DD

There is something just not right with trying to hit a short runway parking lot that is a moving, pitching target that's changing elevation at the same!

Runways are like wings - they should be fixed.

Amazing synergy between a Human and their machine.

Keep your eye on the meatball.

Thanks for your service.

Root

Wonderful stuff!

Thanks Batch.

Charlie

Thanks Batch...can't view these from home PC...but from what I hear it's like threading a needle from 10' away....I salute you my friend, us civvies will never really know....

Also brings to mind:

Flight school must include "sphincter pucker practice".

And from a favorite movie:

Gene Kranz:Failure is not an option.

And:

Television Reporter: Is there a specific instance in an airplane emergency when you can recall fear?
Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are to transpire to get you home.

Best,

Jon

Man, I remember pitching decks in the northern Med in winter of 2003. Ice on everything, yellow stripes on everything, and me as an F/A-18A+ plane captain. It was 2:15am local when we launched the first sortie. My shift was supposed to have ended at 7am, but I had to stay on to catch my bird after an 8.5 hour bombing mission. The neatest thing was being able to launch the Hornet, then go to the shop and watch our bombs fall on TV. Wicked cool.

As a grunt we had no idea where they came from nor where they went,  we were just damned happy they came.  On the smoke.

        Potter

      

You guys have my lifelong gratitude for your service to our country.

Thank you for your sacrifice for those of us who couldn't serve and for our families and loved ones.

You are all heroes.