Plane Captain here for attack squadron VA-97 from 1987-1991 who flew A-7Es during this time. Did 2- 6 month Westpac deployments aboard the USS Carl Vinson to the Indian Ocean in ‘88 and ‘90.
Thanks for this detailed write up of a lesser known job in the Navy. It brought back some old memories. Some good , some not so good. Like being blown down the deck several yards by exhaust behind the JBD when a bird turned in front me in rough weather and seas. Luckily I was able to grab a padeye before tumbling too far. And I came out unscathed and a better man for the whole experience. We also never had any major incidents, injuries or loss of life on the flight deck. Just a few near misses. In ‘88 we did lose one shipmate at sea. He alledgedly fell overboard but not from the flight deck. Don’t think they ever found him.
It also pains me to see where our country has gone since I served.
The worst part of the job for me was wash jobs. When I was on nights we washed a bird nearly every night while at sea.
Interesting time of our lives.
I loved being up on the flight deck when there were no flight ops going on. You could look up in the sky and see the milky way, clear as day with no light pollution at all.
The wind rushing by, always rushing by, and the background sound of the ship, the hull hissing through the ocean, and in the ship, the thrumming constant low vibration and sound of ventilation, machinery, and propulsion.
I was always careful on the flight deck. We had all seen the training movies of the crashes and guys being hit by broken arrester cables, or planes plowing into a group of spotted planes.
It was no stretch of the imagination, even for young, invincible guys, to easily visualize just how dangerous it could be up there. It was bad enough for unexpected things you never saw coming, never mind having your head up your ass and doing it to yourself or someone else.
Did they still show TRAINING FILM VIDEO: The Man From LOX" when you went through training? It is so absolutely corny and wonderfully sexist, but extremely effective, especially for irreverent 18 year old boys! Heh, "The Safety Officer is going to HAVE MY ASS!"