Night time practice, eh!
Reminds me of a conversation I had with an ex-pilot. He was telling me about some Aircraft Carrier war games, and mentioned that the sun was setting so they suspended the exercise until the next day.
I said, “Wait a minute; are you telling me that you don’t take off from and land on the carrier at night? This is a war game, and wars get fought at night too.”
He smiled at me like I was ignorant of just how scary it is to land on a carrier, even in the day time: “In war, you bleed a lot too, but you don’t practice bleeding.”
Airborne units practice night missions involving helicopters. Extremely dangerous, given the low altitudes and number of choppers involved. I'm surprised they don't do war games involving night time landings.
Based upon that statement, I would tend to discredit the comments of the supposed ex-pilot. I have some experience in Carrier Flight Ops, and can tell you truthfully that yes indeed, we bloody well DO perform Flight Ops at night, even while not in battle conditions. Good training involves day and night ops, in good or bad weather.
Also, during rain, high winds and rough seas. Carriers are not small ships but they do pitch and roll some -and nobody promised you your career in flight ops would be safe, especially while operating in a carrier-based environment.
Look, for example, at your typical EA-6B. All-weather bird -and yes, it DOES fly in all weather conditions, during the day or at night.
Oh really? During evals, simulations, and even MASSEXs we practiced bleeding quite a bit. Also, quick and effective responses to incoming fire, explosions, return fire, battle damage, and on-scene triages as necessary. The corpsmen practiced patching us up due to enemy actions, speedy wound bandaging, and getting others out of the action and into (usually temporary) medical aid stations as necessary.