carrier night landing
Jon Goldsmid
I have been told that night carrier landings are like being in a dark
closet and tring to find the door handle without touching anything.
John Weiss
On 06/06/96 02:33PM, in message <4p68lb$t...@janus.cqu.edu.au>, Jon Goldsmid
<gold...@topaz.cqu.edu.au> wrote:
> I have been told that night carrier landings are like being in a dark
> closet and tring to find the door handle without touching anything.
There's light coming through the keyhole, though... ;-)
--
John Weiss
Bare Bones BBS, Seattle, WA
206-368-7672
David R. Kuechenmeister
In article <N.060696.181023.89@Weiss>, jrw...@seanet.com (John Weiss) wrote:
>On 06/06/96 02:33PM, in message <4p68lb$t...@janus.cqu.edu.au>, Jon Goldsmid
><gold...@topaz.cqu.edu.au> wrote:
>
> > I have been told that night carrier landings are like being in a dark
> > closet and tring to find the door handle without touching anything.
>
>There's light coming through the keyhole, though... ;-)
Maybe it's just me, but night launches were a whole lot more stressful
than night recoveries. Looking off the bow into absolutely nothing was
pretty disorienting.
Dave
--
David R. Kuechenmeister | Voice: (770)528-7738
Georgia Tech Research Institute | Fax: (770)528-7083
Systems Development Laboratory |
Atlanta, GA 30332 | internet:
david.kuec...@gtri.gatech.edu
José Herculano
>Maybe it's just me, but night launches were a whole lot more stressful
>than night recoveries. Looking off the bow into absolutely nothing was
>pretty disorienting.
What did you flew?
Jose
Travfarley
<gold...@topaz.cqu.edu.au> wrote:
>
> > I have been told that night carrier landings are like being in a
dark
> > closet and tring to find the door handle without touching anything.
yea, but the closet has acls needles and bullseye that you can see through
the hud. I've known some pilots that do better at night b/c they always
get to a good start, which for some is 90% of the battle. Not saying they
are more comfortable at night - just saying they do better. clear nights
are kinda cool.
travis
person11
> <gold...@topaz.cqu.edu.au> wrote:
TravFarley wrote:
<snipped>
> yea, but the closet has acls needles and bullseye that you can see
>through the hud. I've known some pilots that do better at night b/c
>they always get to a good start, which for some is 90% of the battle.
>Not saying they are more comfortable at night - just saying they do
>better.
>Clear nights are kinda cool.
On the other hand, what about *dark and stormy nights?*: pitch *black*;
25 kt. winds; turbulence; heavy rain; 1/4 mile vis.; obviously no moon
or stars; some vertigo; *pitching* deck; limited fuel; and, to add to
all of the above, the carrier is under Blue Water Ops. :-(
Andy Millon
-=> Quoting David R. Kuechenmeister to All <=-
DRK> Maybe it's just me, but night launches were a whole lot more stressful
DRK> than night recoveries. Looking off the bow into absolutely nothing was
DRK> pretty disorienting.
Must be you <hehehe>. My attitude was to set the power, set the yoke,
and wait. You either lived or died, but you no longer had control
of the decisions making up the end result, so why worry about it. ;-)
Night traps on the other hand were just a bit more stressful, though
not as much as some day traps. One couldn't see very much so what one
did see were necessary clues to a successful (i.e. safe) trap. Fly what
little you do see and consider all deviations to be pilot induced since
you can't see the ship anyway. No stress, great concentration incentive.
I found the most stressful thing I did onboard to be parking the Hummer
at night. On Big-E that involved backing up between L-1 and L-2 using
reverse thrust so that half the aircraft is over the side. Backing up
isn't difficult. Doing so on a pitching, slippery deck (and you can
see/feel it now that you're aboard) with salt spray covering the windows
and knowing (don't look) your $60M aircraft is withing a couple of inches
of two other $60M aircraft and your crew is sitting out over the water
while you are responsible for everything -- now that was stressful. ;-)
Andy Millon
x-E2A/B/C/C+/C++
... *NO CARRIER* -- A Naval Aviator's worst nightmare!
--
|Fidonet: Andy Millon 1:202/219
|Internet: ami...@tnlhub.esnet.com
|
| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own.
John Weiss
On 06/07/96 05:32PM, in message
<david.kuechenmeist...@ccrf-news.gtri.gatech.ed, David R.
Kuechenmeister <david.kuec...@gtri.gatech.edu> wrote:
> >There's light coming through the keyhole, though... ;-)
>
>
> Maybe it's just me, but night launches were a whole lot more stressful
> than night recoveries. Looking off the bow into absolutely nothing was
> pretty disorienting.
>
I can't claim to be a "normal" pilot, but I always enjoyed the night cat much
more than the night trap. Maybe there was the idea that "God has the
airplane" and there was not much I could do for the first few seconds. OTOH,
the approach was HARD WORK!
--
John Weiss
Bare Bones BBS, Seattle, WA
206-368-7672
LCDR, USN, Ret
A-4, A-6, EA-6 pilot
W.E. Nichols
ami...@tnlhub.esnet.com (Andy Millon) Banged on the keyboard and wrote:
+I found the most stressful thing I did onboard to be parking the Hummer
+at night. On Big-E that involved backing up between L-1 and L-2 using
+reverse thrust so that half the aircraft is over the side. Backing up
+isn't difficult. Doing so on a pitching, slippery deck (and you can
+see/feel it now that you're aboard) with salt spray covering the windows
+and knowing (don't look) your $60M aircraft is withing a couple of inches
+of two other $60M aircraft and your crew is sitting out over the water
+while you are responsible for everything -- now that was stressful. ;-)
You needed to have a little more faith in the yella shirts. They will take
very good care of you on deck. As long as you do as you are told and don't
mess with them.:):) You need to talk the the Viggie guys or F-4 guys.
Putting that first Phantom on the port bow requried the nose to swing out
over the bow. They did it without hesitation, because they trusted the
yella shirts. Even with Viggies, we had to swing that looooooooong nose
over the side a couple of times. No problems. Trust your yella shirt and
he will trust you.
Nick
W.E. Nichols If a frog had wings, he would not
w...@infi.net bump his butt each time he jumped.
Bill Huber
In article <4pacvi$f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
travf...@aol.com (Travfarley) wrote:
>
>yea, but the closet has acls needles and bullseye that you can see through
>the hud. I've known some pilots that do better at night b/c they always
>get to a good start, which for some is 90% of the battle. Not saying they
>are kinda cool.
>
>travis
Maybe the fact that you can't see the water cuts down on distractions.
Just point the airplane so that the ball is in the right space and keep
flying until you hit the deck or they tell you to go around.
Bill Huber
Howard of Effingham
In article <david.kuechenmeist...@ccrf-news.gtri.gatech.edu>,
David R. Kuechenmeister <david.kuec...@gtri.gatech.edu> wrote:
>Maybe it's just me, but night launches were a whole lot more stressful
>than night recoveries. Looking off the bow into absolutely nothing was
>pretty disorienting.
Q: how do they prepare tyro pilots for the first night cat shot and arrested
recovery? do they get an instructor to show them first and then they try it?
one assumes that they were or are done after the student is ok at day launches?
t.
==============================================================================
Trevor Williams |
| But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
| All losses are restored and sorrows end.
|
| William Shakespeare - Sonnet XXIX
==============================================================================
Rainer Cantu
What might be the possibility of getting a .bmp .jpg .tiff of a TF-34
engine? It is the power plant of the S-3 Viking. Tried the GE home page
but they don't even have the CF-34 showing (commercial version of the
power plant). Can you help.
Thanks
Rainer
ADC(AW) USN Active Duty
Cole Pierce
>Maybe it's just me, but night launches were a whole lot more stressful
>than night recoveries. Looking off the bow into absolutely nothing was
>pretty disorienting.
I have to agree, and we're in the minority. Seems like most jocks in
the squadron would rather have us on the midnite-to-noon schedule, so
they could get a day trap after a nite launch. I was the other way
around, would rather fly the noon-to-mid sked; if I got the day launch
and the nite trap, that was mobettah. Would much rather have that
stick and throttle between my hot little hands for a nite trap than
bet everything on the come for a launch into the gloom of night.
gun one
Cole Pierce
From the nimble fingers of t...@coventry.ac.uk (Howard of Effingham):
>Q: how do they prepare tyro pilots for the first night cat shot and arrested
>recovery? do they get an instructor to show them first and then they try it?
Dozens and dozens of night field carrier landing practice (FCLP) landings.
Old requirements were 2 day touch&go's at the boat and 6 arrested before
strapping in for that first (SOLO) night launch. No instructor, just
big cohonies. Today's simulators are pretty good preparation, too.
gun one
Cole Pierce
From the nimble fingers of beb...@business.utah.edu (Bill Huber):
>Just point the airplane so that the ball is in the right space and keep
>flying until you hit the deck or they tell you to go around.
Just? JUST???!!! :-)
gun one
John Weiss
On 06/12/96 11:32PM, in message <4pn2f3$3...@cisu2.jsc.nasa.gov>, Cole Pierce
<pie...@pat.mdc.com> wrote:
That's how they did it in "Top Gun", and how they do it in computer games, so
it MUST be true! :-)
JMcea
The dozens and dozens of night fclp's at NAS Sanford, the home of the East
Coast Whales of Heavy Attack Wing One were done with flashlights
simulating the centerline. wonder if the Soviets would have fallen if
they knew how resourceful the Heavy Attack guys had to be to maintain the
image of the long range strike force. And those flashlights were in
Sanford's second incarnation as an NAS - it was closed after WWII, then
reopened for VC-5 with the A3D-1 c. 1956. Finally it became a municipal
airport when an abandoned Air Force Base in nearby georgia was 10 times
better than Sanford. [Leads one to wonder what the un-abandoned air force
bases are like].
jlmce
John Weiss
On 06/12/96 08:26PM, in message <4pmnia$8...@leofric.coventry.ac.uk>, Howard of
Effingham <t...@coventry.ac.uk> wrote:
> Q: how do they prepare tyro pilots for the first night cat shot and
> arrested recovery? do they get an instructor to show them first and then
> they try it?
>
No "show & tell" here! There are ground school, simulators, and field
practice, but the first real one is the first real one...
> one assumes that they were or are done after the student is ok at day
> launches?
>
Yes. In Intermediate and Advanced Training, day carrier ops are done in the
T-2 and TA-4, respectively (now transitioning to the T-45 for both phases).
Once in the training squadron for the operational airplane, night carrier ops
are added.
David R. Kuechenmeister
In article <4pn2f3$3...@cisu2.jsc.nasa.gov>, pie...@pat.mdc.com (Cole
Pierce) wrote:
>From the nimble fingers of beb...@business.utah.edu (Bill Huber):
>>Just point the airplane so that the ball is in the right space and keep
>>flying until you hit the deck or they tell you to go around.
>
>Just? JUST???!!! :-)
But isn't that what the A-7 guys used to do with the impact point on the
HUD? I always wondered what kind of emergency was going on when the HUD
failed. Now it's obvious..they couldn't spot the deck.
Woody
Travfarley wrote...
>> yea, but the closet has acls needles and bullseye that you can see
>> through the hud. I've known some pilots that do better at night b/c
>> they always get to a good start, which for some is 90% of the battle.
>> Not saying they are more comfortable at night - just saying they do
>> better. clear nights are kinda cool.
>>
>> travis
Woody sez... I've never seen anything through a HUD at the ship, but I
always had better night grades for precisely the reason you mentioned.
I flew needles to 1/2 a mile and cheat scanned back inside the cockpit
once or twice more inside of that with B/N assistance. Straight-ins
were always easier for me to set up than that descending turn off the
abeam. I've always hated night cat shots but felt very in control of
the traps once I'd done a few.
Bill Huber replied...
> Maybe the fact that you can't see the water cuts down on distractions.
> Just point the airplane so that the ball is in the right space and
> keep flying until you hit the deck or they tell you to go around.
>
> Bill Huber
Woody sez... You've got a point about the distractions. Seems like
despite the fact that moonlit nights are less scary, folks do worse on
the ball because they try to spot the deck instead of flying the ball.
I don't understand your "...point the airplane so that the ball is in
the right space and keep flying until..." statement though.
Art Day
>The dozens and dozens of night fclp's at NAS Sanford, the home of the East
>Coast Whales of Heavy Attack Wing One were done with flashlights
>simulating the centerline.
No kidding? Was the LSO's suit of lights electric, or did he use
strapped-on candles?<g>
Art Day
pd...@kaiwan.com