Landing on a Pitching Deck, Part 1

http://www.youtube.com ^ | unknown | PBS

[Jacquerie]

www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=4gGMI8d3vLs

For part II Night Ops: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=4gGMI8d3vLs

[Jacquerie]

Very exciting video footage.

HATS OFF TO THESE GUYS! This is very unnerving, landing with deck pitching 30 feet, at night, low on fuel. Incredible. You will never forget viewing this. I have seen a lot of aviation vids but these two are undoubtedly the best. Turn on your sound and go full screen. I guarantee this will hold your attention.

These videos show the difference between Naval Aviation and any other kind. The links below are two outstanding videos about F-18 carrier operations aboard the USS Nimitz during weather that causes a severely pitching deck, which you can see in the videos. It's more dangerous than most combat missions and the tension in the pilots and crew is very apparent. Watch Part 1 first. Great videos

LANDING TERROR!

[rlmorel]

I served on a carrier for a few years, and I remember working the night shift, walking down those passageways bathed in red light, and seeing the pilots who just landed walk by me, with their helmets dangling in one hand, their ditty bag of flight stuff in the other.

Under those lights, all color seems lost, and the contrast is increased so everything looks a little odd. But two things stuck out: Their hair was always soaked with sweat, and their flight suits had dark sweat areas under the armpits, down their backs and on their legs.

I remember thinking...”Geez, that must be pretty stressful landing at night for those guys to sweat like that!”

[OCCASparky]

Okay, Air Farce—tell me your pilots can handle that. Please. I’m beggin ya.

[Bean Counter]

Five carriers, 20 years in the Navy with 17 of ‘em underway...yah, it can be exciting at times, especially for those of us who voluntarily man the flight deck and let Junior Officers aim their aircraft at us...

[Recon Dad]

“Mankind has a perfect record in aviation. We never left one up there.”

[Sunshine Sister]

You said it all. How can you not have respect for the entire crew of the carrier? Absolutely incredible! If you didn’t love the military before seeing this you will after. The skill I saw is just amazing!

[rlmorel]

Thanks for your service...:)

The roughest seas by far were in the North Atlantic when we went up there in 1976 aboard the USS JFK, and we were there from September to November...

I remember one time the seas were so mountainous that nobody was allowed on deck except three guys roped together to check the security of the aircraft tie-downs.

But me and two other guys crawled out in the catwalk (we were forward of the island on the starboard side, and they couldn't see us from the angle we were at. The surface of the ocean was whipped up into a froth. I don't know how big the seas were, but there was a Knox class frigate off our starboard side, and the bow would come completely out of the water, then pitch and bury its bow, and the water would completely cover the bow all the way back to the gun mount, then would wash down the sides. The bow would then come all the way out of the water so you could actually see under the bow, then bury itself again. While it did this, the stern would come out of the water, and you could see the screw turning at what I guessed must have been 250 RPM (any Knox guys know if that is even possible on those things...I calculated it right now from memory...I swear I can still vividly see that thing turning in my mind!) All the while, the ship is both rolling from side to side, and yawing pretty wildly.

This cruise was the first time I had ever been to sea, and I had never seen ships like this. I was flabbergasted...the ship looked completely out of control, and I thought "How the hell do those guys live on that thing?"

I literally took this all in within probably a 15 or 30 second time frame, and to this day I can STILL just see it as plain as day, it made such an impression on me.

So, the three of us are huddled nut-to-butt in the catwalk, the wind whipping wildly past us, and as we looked through the grating under our feet, we could see the ocean 90 feet below us. It was just wild. But here is the thing. We became aware of just how much the JFK was moving...you really can't feel it much, except to walk into a bulkhead by accident as you walked along and found yourself bumping the bulkhead. But in the catwalk where we were, we could see the bow of the ship plain as day. The entire thing. The three of us, frozen, watched the bow descend, lower...lower...lower...lower into the water, as if in slow motion, then begin back upwards.

Up...up...up...up...up...up...and the seawater...TONS of seawater, it was just beyond our ability to grasp it....tons of seawater cascading off the side as the bulbous part of the bow became visible to us. Up, further and further and further until we all must have been thinking "Is this thing to going to just take off or something?"

Up the bow came, then slowed...slower...slower...slower...slower. Then...the whole thing froze in what seemed like mid-air and literally stopped with tons of water still cascading off of it as it hung there.

Then...it started, ever so slowly, back down. Down...down...down...down...and...BOOOOOOOOOOM! It hit the water and more seawater than you can even imagine a volume of just flew in every single direction away from the bow. All I can compare it to is this picture of a lighthouse:

(The first time I saw this picture, I thought of those moments me and those two guys watched this...)

The bow of the carrier PLUNGED into the water, faster and faster and it looked like the water was going to come right up to where we were...the three of us all had the same vision at the same time and even though we were right next to the hatch, we stepped all over each other as we all tried to scramble back inside at the same time, stepping on each other, grasping and clutching, our mouths agape in hilarious terror! (We were not in any danger of the water coming up that high, but it was damned funny that all three of us had that exact same impression at the exact same moment!)

Just utterly amazing seas....just amazing.

[rlmorel]

LOL! I never heard that one before!

[Abigail Adams]

For later.

[Bean Counter]

Yah! When I was onboard Ike, we did a hurri-vac out of Hampton Roads in advance of some storm whose name I forget, but we were at sea with no aircraft aboard and took some tremendous seas. I was on Cat 1 and our coop was all the way forward on the 03 level, and it was like being in an express elevator headed for the 6th floor at the speed of frickin’ heat, and as soon as you got there, the elevator headed for the third sub-basement even faster, and once it got there we started up again. We actually took waves over the bow of the Eisenhower that night, no kidding, and that is no mean feat considering the flight deck is about 60 feet above the waterline of a Nimitz class hull.

We had one poor bastard in the cat crew from the Phillipines (SP) and he got seasick as soon as they called away the Sea and Anchor detail prior to getting underway. The Division Officer went to the extreme of getting him a rack down below decks in one of the more stable areas of the ship, but the guy was still puking his shoes as soon as we got underway.

I have been in the bow cat ICCS launching aircraft in the North Atlantic on Ike in similar conditions to what that video shows. The cat officer times the shot so just as the bow starts up from a downward pitch, he fires the catapult, and in the 3.2 seconds it takes to reach the waterbrakes, the bow is coming up and actually adds some impetus to the shot. It is spooky to look out the window and be staring at water...

[rlmorel]

"...It is spooky to look out the window and be staring at water...

LOL! You think? I thought that was an excellent video, they launched one Hornet, and that plane looked like it was going down, although it might have been that the bow was rising and made it look like it was disappearing.

I admit...I LOVE rough seas. But...that is a luxury of being on a carrier...:)

[Ramius]

Yikes...

I was in some CG helos that made pretty hairy landings on violently pitching, teeny weeny little flight decks. Makes you develop that perma-pucker.

But this bidness of slamming fast jets down on flight decks is just bad, bad juju. Couldn’t do it.

[Ramius]

Roger that... There’s also the Gulf of Alaska. Rolling over to about 58deg... Looking out the bridge windows to see the water *entirely* too close.

[Vroomfondel]

ping

[magslinger]

That is why real pilots get the gold wings. (ducks)

[magslinger]

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[shorty_harris]

Heh...brings back memories!

I was on a Knox class frigate(s) in 1976, and I remember seas like that. If you had looked closely at the signal bridge and see a couple of dopes standing there, one of them might have been me! I remember standing there watching the bow dive under water, and having to duck under the gunwale to keep from getting plaster by a sheet of water.

I was berthed just forward of the gun mount, and I can tell you, during heavy seas it's impossible to sleep. You physically can't stay in your rack. And when you jump out, make sure you don't jump when the deck is rushing up to smack you like a bug.

When the ship plunged into a trough, it always felt to me like it was coming to a screeching halt. I thought it was pretty amazing that we could keep making forward progress. Lots of fun, especially for an airdale (helicopter detachment).

[SC Swamp Fox]

I rode the Saratoga through the north Atlantic in winter and through the edge of a hurricane off Florida. We had no aircraft on-board for the hurricane.

During the hurricane run they wouldn't let us top-side but the waves were bangin' the doors in hanger bay 1. Those doors were not exactly water-tight and a couple of inches of water was rolling back-and-forth through the hanger bay. One of my best friends was a SM and he told me we were taking water over the bow.

My berthing was forward (01-29-0L) and it was like trying to sleep in an express elevator that changed direction every 4 or 5 seconds.

[SC Swamp Fox]

A Navy Captain, former F-14 pilot once told me that the 3 best things in life are:
a) a good orgasm.
b) a good bowel movement.
c) a good night carrier landing.

...and if the night is dark enough, and the deck is pitching enough, you can have all three at the same time.

[Jacquerie]

Thank you all for your first person sea stories!