Pitching Deck
 

Good account of a challenging day on an Aircraft Carrier. Two parts, each about ten minutes long. I didn't see any "terror", just good work in a tough situation.

CARRIER LANDING TERROR! Part 1
<http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/carrier1.html>

CARRIER LANDING TERROR! Part 2
<http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/carrier2.html>

I know the guy from 3:23 in on Part I (F-14 ramp strike). His NFO ejected and landed in the water. He landed on the flight deck in the fire. There is other video of that part and it will make you sick to watch it. He has burn scars on his forearms (sleeves rolled up) and neck. Last I talked to him he still doesn't remember from seeing he was going to land in the fire and waking up in the hospital.

That was very enjoyable to watch and it definitely keeps your attention. I couldn't believe 15-16 bolters in a row.

Thanks for posting.

In conditions like that it can be as much, if not more, of the timing of the deck than any obvious ball flying skill of the pilots.

Makes it hard to spot the deck when it keeps moving. I went three nights in a row with 6-7 bolters each when we were operating in heavy seas.

1st & 2nd, you kind of just accept that you knew it was coming.

3rd & 4th, you start getting frustrated and mad.

5th & 6th, you start trying to game it more with paddles feeding you info and power corrections, and a little peripheral deck spotting. Maybe a few prayers and hopes for some luck in timing.

Sprinkle in some tanking in there as you and the rest of the recovery start ripping through gas, trying to find your NVG's buried in your helmet bag, and get on/off the tanker before the next guy who just boltered shows up.

7+ you start getting scared, especially if you're blue water, or your divert is some craptastic 3rd world metropolis in say, East Africa. After some self reflection on downwind, you resign yourself to the tried and true "ball/lineup/ball/lineup" basics, flushing "techniques" and "gouge" from your mind realizing that and paddles are all that stand between you and a really bad night.

Somewhere in there you're hoping to get lucky and catch the timing right to just get aboard. When the LSO's come through to debrief you could care less what your pass was graded you're just happy to be there.

This is part of a longer multi-part series that I found pretty interesting. I believe I watched it on Netflix for those that are interested.

Carrier by PBS. Be prepared to lose 10 hours of your life to it. It's well done. Felt bad for the dudes with the pregnant ladies back home. :(

Feel worse for the guy that gets the call 4 months into cruise that his wife is 2 months prego. Seen it more than a few times.

I don't know about that. Small children are great! Pregnant women, not so much :rolleyes:

Pretty awesome vids

Rick,

Do the math.....

Jody's been at the house... :cool:

Ooops... :o

Consider the TV version a bargain. I lost about a year and a half to the live show.

I remember seeing him bandaged up working at the Fighter Wing in Miramar after the accident (VF-51?). Didn't know the guy other than some minor dealings with him at the wing. Do you know how well his scars healed and if he got back to flying?

I've never seen operations in seas that rough. They briefly allude to it in the show, but I'd expect they were all MOVLAS and therefore a lot of "OKs".

I heard one person in the peanut galley say "...show him a little high..." and thought they were MOVLAS.
Did you hear the same thing or was there another clue?
I'm not that familiar with when they would turn to it - but I can't imagine that the lens could keep up with those seas. It was all about timing.

His burn scars were actually how I met him. He was in a sister squadron (E-6s) and we got paired up randomly at a wing golf-ex. It was summer in OKC and he was in pants with long sleeves and a popped collar. Being the smart ass that I am, I had to go there so I started ragging on him some. He then showed me (us) his neck and arms. The scars weren't necessarily grotesque but you couldn't miss them. Apparently, sun and burn scars don't get along. All things considered, he looked good and had a great attitude.

He said he did go back and get requaled after he healed up but he couldn't shake the bad mental mojo he would get every time he rolled in behind the boat. I pictured the Cougar quit scene from Top Gun. He transfered over to TACAMO and did well. TACAMO is the land of misfit toys so we saw all types come over...A-6/S-3 dudes as their platform went away, Jet dudes who had ejected and the docs said another ejection would cripple them, etc.

I actually heard someone say "MOVLAS" but was surprised it wasn't mentioned more often or prominently. Like you, I'd assume seas that rough were beyond the capabilities of the Fresnell stabilization, but my last trap was about 15 years before this show and don't know how far the technology has come. We did a month north of the Arctic Circle in rough (but not that rough) seas and I remember most of it being MOVLAS and thus, lots of "OKs".

For the landlubbers, MOVLAS means the Landing Signal Officers are manually controlling the optical landing system.

Thanks for the follow up. As I said, didn't really know the guy, but I do think about him every once in a while. Classic image about "Cougar." When did you fly E-6s? I knew a pilot (now DAL) and TACAMO (now UAL) who were there in the late 90s.

You can tell it's MOVLAS on the PBS videos by the ladder on the PLAT footage with the little tick mark moving up and down. Where the tick is correlates with what paddles is showing him on the lens. When you see a dude crossing the ramp and the ball goes full high, paddles is trying to get them to ease way back on the power into the wire because the deck is made and they're trying to get them aboard. Vice versa the dude may be on glide slope but because the deck is moving they may move the ball low to get him to add power.

Day MOVLAS on flat water, good times. Night MOVLAS because you have too, I'd rather stay below decks.

That's funny right thar.

I saw the ticks on the platt but didn't know it was representative of the MOVLAS. My time spent on the platform was......minimal (except for writing in the VTs) :D SCORE!