[Robert A Cook PE]

You didn't notice a few other things:

One. You CAN'T land on a carrier without the straps and flightsuit and helmet because of the impact G-forces from the tailhook and drag cables!

Two. You can't use the ejection seats and safety gear and survival gear (oxygen and intercom masks, life jackets, and flight boots) without harnessing up in the flight suits and safety straps....

Three. Look at the DISCOMFORT of wearing the tightly strapped parachute harnesses for several hours! (Do YOU want to wear one of THSOE strapped up through YOUR crotch for several hours just to "look cool"?

Even Condi had to wear the same flight gear.

Bush WAS a former USAF fighter pilot with several thousand flight hours in a supersonic, hot-shot, single seat, high-altitude USAF fighter armed with missiles and cannon training for combat interceptions in the stroshpere.

Do you seriously think any pilot of a USN dual engine "cargo" plane flying "flat and straight and slow" is NOT going to let him take the controls??????????????????

You think any USN pilot is NOT going to let a fellow combat-rated pilot of a different service NOT try a carrier landing????????????

[kabar]

One. You CAN'T land on a carrier without the straps and flightsuit and helmet because of the impact G-forces from the tailhook and drag cables!

It depends on the aircraft. I have landed on an aircraft carrrier several times aboard the COD (a prop plane). All you need is a cranium protector and be strapped in when you hit the wire or are launched.

You think any USN pilot is NOT going to let a fellow combat-rated pilot of a different service NOT try a carrier landing????????????

You must be kidding. The pilot must be first rated in the aircraft and then go through carrier quals. There is no way any Navy pilot would let an unqualified person land the aircraft, especially the CIC.

[Howlin]

Let's not forget that John O'Neill says that John Kerry is wearing a flight jacket he is not entitled to.

[AnAmericanMother]

OK, OK, you're the detail man . . . like Will Rogers said, "I deal in broad concepts." Bottom line: they don't LET you fly in those things without the proper gear. All of it.

As a fixed gear SEL pilot, all I can do is look at those guys in awe . . .