Talked to a retired airline pilot last week and asked him about the lack of hands on flying abilities we hear about by airline pilots today.
He said it is often Navy pilots who don’t know how to crab as they are taught to land in to the wind only and not serious cross winds,
Carriers heahd in to the wind for take offs and landings.
Not sure whether I buy that or not. Carrier pilots deploy for 6-8 months every two years or so. The rest of the time is spent flying from land bases.
Friday nights hanging out in Virginia Beach can be really neat with all the F/A-18 traffic (formerly F-14 traffic. *sob*) in and out of Oceana.
Navy P3 pilots sure enough know how to land in a cross wind. Oh, and those same pilots who land on carriers also often land those same aircraft on land.
You realize, of course, that the vast majority landings made by most navy pilots are on normal runways attached to terra firma...
Sounds a lot like an AF or civ guy trying to take a dig at the navy guys with faulty logic.