TAN #187: sTANd and be counted! (Page 35)

trmat79 - 2012-11-09 1:36 PM well it's on friday and remember its either shorts and white tshirt or jeans and no shirt but everyone has on their dogtags

1stTimeTri - 2012-11-09 1:45 PM

That's a pretty good analogy.  I know I wouldn't be able to do that.  I wouldn't even try to crawl it due to being skeerededed tremendously of heights in an open environment, like climbing up ladders beyond 16-20 feet or walking on a house roof with steep roof angles. *shudder*

Kido - 2012-11-09 11:37 AM

Question

Is landing on a carrier HARD, or is it just scary?

Sort of like... 

Tell someone to walk on a 1' wide painted line on the p avement.  They could probably jog/run it.

But have them walk on a 1' wide path 100' in the air.  And they will crawl it.

Same level of skill, but one is way scarier, which makes it harder.

I assume you do a LOT of landings on land with a picture of a carrier deck and arresting wires to shoot for.

trmat79 - 2012-11-09 1:50 PM That is a hard question to answer but here is my best attempt:

GomesBolt - 2012-11-09 11:47 AM

This has to be linked to this conversation.  trmat79...The later years...

http://www.takeofftube.com/view/442/iceman-the-later-years/

trinnas - 2012-11-09 11:58 AM

OK but when we fly to Vegas we are landing on a runway, Right???

 

trmat79 - 2012-11-09 2:00 PM Well I do have a few hundred carrier landings so either way I think i've got you covered

trinnas - 2012-11-09 12:00 PM

Ok I will just close my eyes and hang on for the ride.

 

trmat79 - 2012-11-09 10:50 AM That is a hard question to answer but here is my best attempt: Is it hard or just scary? Well think of it this way. The landing zone is 200+ feet long and approx 85 feet wide. The first plane that I flew (after training) had a wingspan of 81 feet...so the easy math is assuming if I am trying to be on centerline I have 2 feet of play per side before I could be hitting things. Now lets talk about fighters....much smaller wingspan but traveling a little faster and slower "spool up" time for the engines so where the landing area is 200+ feet only about 50-60 of that is the part where you can actually catch a wire. To further confuse everyone with number if you fly the perfect landing your tailhook (truely the only thing that matters since that is what catches the wire) will hit a spot on the flight deck that is 1 Sq foot on the flight deck. So the goal is to hit that point everytime regardless of the weather, sea state and day or night. Not to mention any malfuctions with your plane. So is it hard... well it's not easy thats for sure. But we do train and train A LOT!!! Before you first time at the boat a student will spend 3-4 weeks flying 2-3 times a day practicing landings everyday and everynight. Yes there is a "flight deck" painted on the runway and yes there is a IFLOS (lense that we use as a landing aid) but there isn't a wire so the first time you catch one of those wires is the first time you are at the ship flying solo..... how does it work? We train exactly the same way to do it at the field as the boat and we do it over and over and over again and if a student doesn't cut the mustard then they don't go.... now for the scary side.....I have had a handful of landings that believe it or not I still have nightmares about...even though they happened over 5 years ago. When you turn the lights off (night time) and add 20+ foot seas (large enough to make the props of the carrier come out of the water) and problems with the plane (like single engine) and yes it is scary but usually after the fact. The guy that can't handle the stress doesn't even make it to this part of training. The guys (and gals) that do are a different breed. I may not like everyone that I work with or respect their views but I do respect their ability to shut off the fear and get the job done... anyway that was more of a rant but as you can tell I love this stuff so if you have any more questions fire away I will help

trmat79 - 2012-11-09 2:02 PM thats what she said?

Kido - 2012-11-09 2:02 PM

I assume the landing is in the middle of the ship to reduce the effects of seas. 

NRG42 - 2012-11-09 12:06 PM

In my early waxing days, I was a fan of the landing strip. 

Oh different type of landing strip......got it!

NRG42 - 2012-11-09 2:06 PM

In my early waxing days, I was a fan of the landing strip. 

Oh different type of landing strip......got it!

GomesBolt - 2012-11-09 12:08 PM

trmat is going to be too modest on this one.  NO, it's not as easy as he makes it look...

Here's a picture of the deck.  They practice touch-and-gos often in-case they miss the wire.  But man, those guys have a very small window in which to operate.

oh I'm not trying to be modest... I just know that with the level of training that we get I feel I could take anyone (who is willing to put in the effort) with good enough eyesight etc and get them to land on the ship (during the day) Now to do it over and over again and at night...well that takes a little more

Edited by trmat79 2012-11-09 1:14 PM

NRG42 - 2012-11-09 2:11 PM OH God now they are posting pictures of a landing strip....this is not going to end well!!

GomesBolt - 2012-11-09 11:08 AM

trmat is going to be too modest on this one.  NO, it's not as easy as he makes it look...

Here's a picture of the deck.  They practice touch-and-gos often in-case they miss the wire.  But man, those guys have a very small window in which to operate.

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/aircraft-carrier-top-view.gif

trinnas - 2012-11-09 12:12 PM

Admit it you would post one if you dared!

 

NRG42 - 2012-11-09 2:06 PM

In my early waxing days, I was a fan of the landing strip. 

Oh different type of landing strip......got it!

trinnas - 2012-11-09 2:12 PM

Guys you need to edit your posts to remove the pics.