Posted on 10/09/2011 3:16:17 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Whoah...
Sounds to me like the Officer flying the plane was the bungler for trying to land on a deck marked foul.
But as always it’s the grunts that take the rap.
Looks like the LSO waited a bit too long to give the wave off, that’s all.
It is not uncommon at all to keep approaching a fouled deck, as it may clear in time.
Close call, but not as close as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_gpPbpONK4
The sailor was sucked into the engine of an A6.
Spoiler alert, don’t worry he lives and probably should have played the lottery somehow that night or week.
Hopefully the LSO (Landing Signal Officer) and the Squadron CO had a little chat with the pilot to go over what a FOUL means.
VAW-116 aboard
USS CORAL SEA CVA-43
Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club 68-69
A pair of bungling sailors nearly swabbed the deck with their faces as a high-speed jet came in for a landing - on them.... The jet, however, was not cleared to land on the carrier, which is noted by a blinking F seen in the video that means ‘foul.’.... The sailors were on the flight deck conducting a mandatory check of the cross-deck pendant, a steel cable that spans across the area....HMMMM? Who are the bunglers and who was the alert pilot? I never was a squid, but if I was ordered to check a cross deck pendant , I’d do it. If I was a pilot and saw a “F” I wouldn’t get that close. So who was wrong?
Working on the flight deck we had to constantly turn our head from side to side because with the flight deck helmets, the goggles, and the ear protection or head phones it was very difficult to know what going on around you. And everything around you will kill you. Much like driving down a freeway having all your windows in your car blacked except for your front windshield.
Saw one young green shirt step the wrong way and walk right into the prop of an E2 Hawkeye during a night launch.
By habit I still do the side by side with the head these 30 years later.
Methinks the USS GW is in for some additional safety training. There are two wrongs that I see in the video:
1. The pilot ignoring the fouled deck warning from the ALS
2. The sailors ignoring the approaching aircraft.
This is complacency at its best. As a former Naval aviation tech, I can assure you that when the ALS flashes “Foul”, no aircraft should be on final approach unless an emergency has been declared. And, when flight ops are ongoing, it is incumbent on EVERYONE on the flight deck to maintain awareness of what is going on around them.
The Navy can provide all the safety training in the world but, at the end of the day, it is up to each individual to make sure that they are protecting themselves. Incidents like these are why a flight deck is the most dangerous place in the world.
The two sailors are lucky, but I bet that the pilot needed a new flightsuit afterward and still has nightmares!
Your post made me recall a great FReeper 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1849275/posts
RIP Sir
So . . . you’re guy who, when the light turns green, looks left and right before proceeding? Okay. I promise not to lay on the horn any more.
Shipmate of mine went out the hatch just as a Plane Captain was revving up the engine on an A-7 Corsair II on the flight deck. He got sucked in, and defensively rolled up in a ball. He lost a foot and leg just below the knee.
It’s not just a job, its an Adventure— a very dangerous one at times.
VAW-116 aboard
USS Coral Sea CVA-43
Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club
Godspeed Brian.
Thanks for remembering.
Glad I reminded you of him. We have a lot of Yacht Club members, as I recall we had three carrier groups cruising in a big wide circle in that piece of water. At night we used to watch USS New Jersey do its thing on the horizon.
Saw that one years ago.
Still amazing to watch.
Lucky Bastuhd.
Bet those two had a nice chat with the Air Boss.
that was an amazing video....my son was on air craft carriers in the navy. Worked on the flight deck, he said if you don’t pay attention, you die....happens even in peace time on carriers....
Thank you for your service.
TSgt
The deck went foul (”F” on the video image) when the Landing Signal Officer hit the waveoff lights. The pilot never saw the flight deck crew workers — moving too fast for that. Not aircrew error or LSO error. The error was a miscommunication between the flight deck crew and the air boss — life in the fast lane, as it were, and the LSOs caught the problem in time; the flight deck crew work finishing fixing a problem that needed to be fixed. I am an old Navy pilot and landing signal officer, and I receive the monthly LSO School newsletter, which featured the story about this incident in their most recent newsletter.
There is a reason us “seasoned” NCOs tell the new guys to “keep their head on a swivel” and “grow eyes in the back of your head”
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