That's extremely difficult to do in today's Navy. There are officers on the deck whose job it is to spot anything amiss about the aircraft before it is cleared to go. Any aircraft on the cat with zero degrees flaps is going to get noticed, big time. Perhaps the incident in question involved not ENOUGH flaps, but I seriously doubt that they would launch an F-14 with no flaps deployed and someone didn't catch it. That's just one of the really obvious things.
Michael
Well, these new rules and procedures that "today's navy" operates under had to come from somewhere. I know a comittee in DC didn't come up with them. I don't doubt the story for a second.
Life is a work in progress. Life in a free country is a study in progress.