LOL!!! 100%, that or you couldn't drive a needle up his butt with a ten pound sledge...
Posted on 06/11/2016 12:13:57 PM PDT by Rebelbase
Carrier landing during a sand storm
Persian Gulf in 2003.
35 second Video: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a7c_1465620519
“Cabin Boy! Get me my brown pants!”
Let’s see the ChiComs do that with their new play pretties.
Shamal’s suck !! That was indeed intense.
Where do you think sand on the beach comes from? :-)
Years ago I saw a satellite image of a Saharan sand storm blowing all the way to the USA.
Don’t miss that, at all.
LOL!!! 100%, that or you couldn't drive a needle up his butt with a ten pound sledge...
Impressive. Looks so easy in the video but I’m told landing on a carrier is among the most difficult feats, even without adding a sandstorm.
Pilots are becoming obsolete. They can now land spent 150-ft tall rocket stages on a small barge (about 1/10 the size of a 1000 ft long aircraft carrier) in the middle of the ocean with automation.
Why risk human lives? Send a drone to do the bombing and recover it on the carrier. If it is shot down or crashes, it’s only money, not an American life.
Darling SG
This thread is tailormade for you!
Exciting to watch, wasn’t it? Imagine how exciting it was for the pilot!
Too bad there was no sound — LSO calls had to have been most interesting!
The symbology on the flight director is totally unfamiliar to me. Back in my day (I made my first carrier landing in July, 1965!), night landings were controlled FRom the ship — we got lineup and glideslope info verbally FRom a guy looking at a radar scope and telling us how to correct back to centerline/glideslpe.
IOW, we were “talked down” to 200’ and 1/2 mile, at which point we transitioned to “meatball, lineup, airspeed.”
If, for some reason, we could not see the ship, we had to waveoff and try it again. That was exciting!
I was tangentially involved in the early Automatic Carrier Landing System (ACLS) trials in USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63). IOW, I along with the Air Wing 11 LSOs got to watch the Naval Test Center Carrier Suitability pilots test the early ACLS in 1971.
THAT WAS EXCITING!
But, I have never flown an airplane equipped with “Autoland” or ACLS. Came way after my time in the cockpit.
PS
I remembered later that the F-4 Phantoms in Air Wing 11 were equipped with the first-generation ACL systems on our 1971-72 WESTPAC cruise.
IIRC, the pilots were dubious at first, but began to trust the ACLS after gaining some experience with it.
I believe that all carrier-based aircraft are equipped with ACLS now.
Darling SG, everything you do is exciting!
Your service to keep America safe for us, is recognized, noted and appreciated. To you, and other Tailhookers, who daily put themselves in danger, for those who, keep the homefires burning, thank you.
XO
Daffy
I was crazy back in the day - I am sane now, but I still want one more trap!
Thanks, Sweetie. Tailhooks forever!
Probably an F-18.
That is one lucky pilot. Had he snagged one of those cross-deck pendants, his airplane would have been a smoking pile of scrap metal on the flight deck!
As best I can tell, it is a Russian Sukhoi Su-33 taking a VERY late wave-off on the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.