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Angle of Attack - Vimeo

More HD video.
This one highlights the first time carrier qualification of students from VT-21, flying the T-45s from NAS Kingsville.
FlyBoyd - you might have recognized some of the students!

Angle of Attack - Excerpt 1

Very, very cool. Makes you want to become a Naval/Marine Aviator all over again. What is the average flight time when these younglings fling themselves onto a carrier deck?

Very good vid.

Which boat was this?

And why didnt the LSO tell him the hook was not down?

regards

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianb (Post 1475672)

Very, very cool. Makes you want to become a Naval/Marine Aviator all over again. What is the average flight time when these younglings fling themselves onto a carrier deck?

For someone with no prior flying experience - fellow students in my first CQ class found themselves behind the boat with less than 140 hrs.
Now that they only go to the boat ONCE before getting their wings - the numbers should be higher because they will have gone through different/additional phases of training prior to the first try at CQ (the LTjg mentions the strike det at El Centro for example)

Any prior VT IPs at Meridian or Kingsville care to chime in here with the recent numbers an SNA would go to CQ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by oicur12 (Post 1475678)

Very good vid.

Which boat was this?

And why didnt the LSO tell him the hook was not down?

regards

I can't tell which boat it was - but then again I'm not sure how much is some sort of stock footage or actual footage taken over the course of the CQ evolution.
At least the part filmed at 4+23 is on the USS Nimitz (CVN-68). You can see it to the left of the screen as the airplane comes to a stop.

Good question about the LSO not telling a guy/gal their hook isn't down.
I know it happens:D
I notice at time 3+45 that the hook isn't down and the AoA indicator is steady.
In my former airplane, with the switches set appropriately, if the hook wasn't down (for instance a purposeful hook up pass) the AoA indicator will blink. If I remember my time on the platform too - there is a guy with binos looking at each airplane at the 180 deg position and relaying the configuration of the aircraft.

On one personal note - the young Marine mentions around 5+40 that the "cockiness came out" on the second day. I can relate. On the second day of my TA-4J CQ period I was feeling *salty* and ended up throwing a Wave-off in the groove pass on my second to last attempt. That is a 1.0 GPA pass if I remember correctly (back me up here any LSOs). Dropped my CQ GPA from 'doing pretty good' to 'whew - glad I didn't mess up twice'!

Angle of Attack - Vimeo

Not being a military guy, I think that was awesome , thanks for sharing

usmcflyer

thanks for the reply.

Do they use regular boats for training these days? I thought they used a specific boat like the forrestal or lex in the old days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oicur12 (Post 1475814)

usmcflyer

thanks for the reply.

Do they use regular boats for training these days? I thought they used a specific boat like the forrestal or lex in the old days.

Fleet carriers now.

For many years it was the USS Lexington.
From Wiki:

Quote:

Into 1969, Lexington operated out of her home port, Pensacola, as well as Corpus Christi and New Orleans, qualifying student aviators and maintaining the high state of training of both active duty and reserve naval aviators. Her work became of increasing significance as she prepared the men vital to the Navy and Marine Corps operations over Vietnam, where naval aviation played a major role. Lexington marked her 200,000th arrested landing on 17 October 1967, and was redesignated CVT-16 on 1 January 1969. She continued as a training carrier for the next 22 years until decommissioned and struck on 8 November 1991.
On 29 October 1989, a student Naval Aviator lost control of his T-2 training aircraft after an aborted attempt to land on Lexington's flight deck. The aircraft impacted the island with its right wing, killing 5 crew members (including the pilot of the plane), and another 15 were injured. The island suffered no major damage, and fires from the burning fuel were extinguished within 15 minutes.[11][12]
Lexington was the final Essex-class carrier in commission, after USS Oriskany (CV-34) had been decommissioned in 1976

.
They retired her and the USS Forrestal came out as THE training carrier.
I joke that I landed on it during her first time out (May '92) and I broke it :D
It went into the yards for an overhaul of some sort the story goes and it never came back out.
(My memory and the actual timeline might have some differences - but that is how I remember it!)
Wiki says:

Quote:

The year ended with Forrestal making advanced preparations for a change of homeport to Pensacola, Florida, and the transition into a new role as the Navy's training carrier, replacing USS Lexington. Forrestal was redesignated AVT-59 and arrived in Pensacola on 4 February. The ship and crew returned to New Orleans for a visit in May, 1992. Forrestal arrived in Philadelphia 14 September 1992 to begin a 14-month, $157 million complex overhaul prior to assuming duties as a training carrier. In early 1993, however, the Navy decided to decommission Forrestal and leave the Navy without a dedicated training carrier.

Yikes!! I wonder what that 140hrs would equate to in civilian time. Not a military to civilian conversion mind you, a civilian to military.

Quote:

Originally Posted by USMCFLYR (Post 1475736)

I notice at time 3+45 that the hook isn't down and the AoA indicator is steady.
In my former airplane, with the switches set appropriately, if the hook wasn't down (for instance a purposeful hook up pass) the AoA indicator will blink. If I remember my time on the platform too - there is a guy with binos looking at each airplane at the 180 deg position and relaying the configuration of the aircraft.

There is a toggle switch in the jet. The only way to get the flashing light to remind you that the hook isn't down is to set it to the "carrier" position.

They also have to log some touch and goes on the carrier deck in addition to the traps. The footage with hook up, and the light steady could have been from an intended touch and go.

I'm not an LSO, but I can speak with confidence saying there isn't anyway they wouldn't notice the stud didn't have his hook down. Once a student shows up in the groove, the LSO isn't going to want them to do anything except fly the pass. Not a good idea to take your hand off the stick to move other switches at that point in time. In addition to buying an unintentional touch and go, he probably bought his LSO "something else"