Carrier Sea Legs

Gypsy 206 time C on vle manual pass ball 5.2 Roger ball we've got 25 knots down the angle they did a physiology study of Navy pilots during actual combat missions they measured things like pulse rate heartbeat adrenaline flow and breathing patterns and they found that the needle quivered most when the pilots came back to land on the deck of the aircraft carrier putting 20 tons of airplane on a patch of heaving rolling carrier deck created more tension and pressure than dodging surface toar missiles even among the most experienced Pilots it's probably the single biggest test of airmanship and flight crews make no pretense about it either even with the self-confidence inherent in all good Pilots men who fly their aircraft to the limits of its performance and stake their lives on their own flying ability even these Pilots long remember their carrier Landings especially in bad weather with ceilings down to 100 ft visibility maybe half a mile and you're making a carrier control approach although you're under positive control of the ship at all times except for the Final Phase when the landing signal officer takes over it's the most demanding kind of flying at night it's even tougher you're looking for a pattern of light about 3/4 of a mile ahead to set up your approach if you hit a gust of wind the airplane will climb or descend on you and you've got to make a Glide slope correction or go around again sometimes it's so black you can't believe it no stars no moon and you're hundreds of miles at Sea with no reference you lose all depth perception it's as if you were going down on a m Shaft or into a closet and closing the door behind you it's a special kind of flying that takes a special kind of pilot and a special kind of airplane it takes intensive training experience and confidence an accommodation of man and machine a blending of skill and structure Navy pilots and airplanes with sea legs much has been written of the carrier task force and the evolution of the carrier itself as a self-sustaining weapon system that is the heart of Naval Aviation a city at Sea with over 5,000 men enough supplies to last 6 months months to a year and over 80 aircraft filling a variety of roles that continues to grow in the face of new technologies and new threats with the current CV concept which combines attack and ASW capabilities in a single Hull today's carriers must handle a variety of aircraft all of which require different staff expertise more spares and ground support equipment carriers have gotten bigger of course but so have the aircraft the Essex class has been replaced by the larger Forest allall class and nuclear carriers f4s are gradually being replaced by f-14s aircraft and platform enhance and at the same time limit each other yet the fact remains that Navy aircraft do not compromise performance or compatibility with the carrier consider that the Navy F4 4 and A7 have been eminently successful as primary weapon systems for the US Air Force on the other hand no aircraft designed for land operations has ever been converted for Carrier Duty it takes more than a tail hook to earn your sea legs no matter what its Mission or performance a carrier aircraft is a special breed for one thing it's built to survive in an environment landbased aircraft were never designed to tolerate launch from a steam powered catapult that induces an acceleration loading better than five times the force of gravity and yanked off the deck in a couple of hundred fet As One Pilot put it it's like you're inside a slingshot and your intention waiting then they let go and you're shot into space like a little BB you go from 0 to 160 knots in 2 and 1/2 seconds with no Runway left over once Airborne performance varies with the specific aircraft and the mission at hand a typical mix on the CV today calls for three attack squadrons Two fighter squadrons early warning reconnaissance and electronic countermeasure aircraft as well as the means to counter the growing submarine threat it's a total Maritime responsibility since the carrier operates a safe distance from Shore and can move 50 Mi or so between launch and Recovery each airplane must carry additional fuel to complete its Mission and get back to the ship and each airplane must also carry enough gas to give Pilots a few extra shots at the deck if need be getting back on the carrier is indeed the ultimate Challenge it's Precision flying but no one even pretends to be a soft Lander you fly until the deck comes up and you hit it in what has Loosely been described as a control old crash immediately applying full engine power in case you fail to snatch the wire a 50ton pull on the tail hook brings the airplane to a jolting halt everything wants to keep going forward and for a second or two you think it will but the backlash quickly nulls itself out that's the way it was designed a carrier airplane is a rigid structure but like all structures distorts under load it twists and bends every time it leaves the deck and every time it returns you can't see it but when the landing gear hits the whole fuselage bends momentarily under the impact and the wing tips want to reach down to the deck the gear itself literally Springs back after impact and imparts a reverse loading on the structure quite a difference from landbased aircraft which descend at at a reasonably flat angle and clear into a smooth Landing with runway in front of them as far as the eye can see and a little extra help when you need it by comparison a Carrier Landing calls for a slow steep approach with engines and flight systems synchronized for maximum controlability exceptional over the- noose visibility is essential to pick out the visual Landing Aid system or meatball and to establish the correct lineup so critical for safe landing the aircraft must also be especially responsive to changes in thrust and attitude and slow approach speeds are desirable because they give the pilot more time to make Corrections coming in at 115 knots instead of 140 say might not seem like much but the fact is every knot counts and slower is safer carrier airplanes use about 10% of the runway required by landbased aircraft and are designed to hit the neck at sink speeds up to 25 ft per second about three times the speed and nine times the impact energy of a typical landbased aircraft to take these kinds of loads requires a heavyduty landing gear and supporting structure and a resting hook system integrated with the fuselage to withstand a deceleration Force up to 6 G on some aircraft and a fatigue life that will see the entire structure safely through some 6,000 carrier Landings before ever getting to the carrier of course individual airplanes are subjected to rigorous static fatigue and dynamic tests to verify structural Integrity from zero load to failure then flight testing low speeed handling touch and goes highspeed cruise and maneuvering through the aircraft's entire operating envelope carrier suitability tests at the Navy facility at pent River Maryland and Lakehurst New Jersey include everything from catapult launches and arrested Landings at various conditions and engaging speeds to barricade arrestment for all the differences between carrier and landbased aircraft it's hard to tell one from the other by just looking internal design and structure separate the two more than anything else except for a few things like the arresting hook maybe the candid windshield launch bar and holdback links but essentially it's a matter of overall inherent strength and oh yes the wings fold on most carrier aircraft with just so much square footage to work with everything that goes on a carrier including the aircraft is packaged as compactly as possible space is always a problem particularly when it comes to maintenance most of which is confined to a hanger deck that precludes the use of much of the big support and handling equipment found at a typical airport in such tight quarters easy access becomes even more critical to simplify inspections and minimize downtime there are many other features peculiar to carrier aircraft maintaining static balance for example to prevent tip back during deck handling providing integral crew boarding features to eliminate ladders and workstands on the deck using special Alloys and sealant to protect the aircraft against the high humidity and salt spray environment so conducive to corrosion designing engine inlets to minimize ingestion of hot catapult Steam and ejection seats that afford safy Gress at ground level and zero speed in terms of performance the requirement to fly slowly demands good handling characteristics the high lift devices and moderate Wing loading that is the bigger Wing essential to lower speeds also means better than average maneuverability the payoff an all- weather attack bomber like the A6 can handle itself pretty well in a tight turn similarly the F-14 uses a straight unswept Wing to achieve low takeoff and Landing speeds and low speed maneuverability and a highly swept wing for supersonic flight as a result the Navy has an airplane designed for Fleet defense yet equally effective for close in air-to-air combat of course no aircraft with sea legs is going to be effective without people with sea legs to manage the system the right people in the right place at the right time from the first draw off the board to the first operating system to the first Carrier Landing and into an environment that might well be the best organized and most efficient military system ever put together it's the aircraft that make the carrier viable but it's the pilots who pay it off and right from the start Navy tail hook Pilots think they're better than anyone else and who's to say they're not yet they're only as good as The Men Who maintain the aircraft the technicians who groom the weapons gear the mechanics who watch over the engines the plane captains who see that they're ready for flight the handling officer who spots them on the deck and the air boss who tells them when to come and when to go it's a community like no other dedicated men putting their skills on the line every day moving these airplanes with sea legs on and off the ship in A continuing readiness