Flying the C-2 we never did night landings on the carrier, so I cant speak about that. I did however land on the boat once near zero zero conditions for RAIN! They had cancelled the entire flight schedule on the ship except they still brought out the COD. I flew the "ILS" to a "negative ship" call (usually you call the ball when you are 3/4 of a mile and somewhere between 300-400 ft) but we saw NOTHING! We got a "paddles contact" call meaning the LSO saw our landing light and brought us down verbally to about 1/4 mile and 200 ft. I looked up from my panel at about the same time we touched down. We taxied off the landing area and opened the cargo ramp and my crewmen were soaked with rain instantly!
You never had to worry if the tacan on the ship went out, just find the worst weather or T-storm cloud over the ocean and the boat was somewhere under it. I guess that type of weather provides the strongest winds
05-09-2012
AIRLINE
