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it looks pretty easy because navy pilots are some of the best in the world. they practice carrier landings constantly so they make it look easy. imagine though you are flying an F/A18, and you are over the ocean, and you have to find a postage stamp, in the weather, carier deck pitching up, down and sideways, and your landing strip isnt even in a straight line, and is constantly moving, and you get to land on it with out cracking up your aircraft and killing yourself.
And they do it at night! I was stationed on 2 carriers and do miss watching the F14's.
That's why the Air Force has pilots and the Navy has Aviators.
Carrier landings have to be the absolute toughest non-combat task there is; I have made one carrier approach in my life, the Lexington was moored off of Pensacola, there was no launch and recovery training taking place, and while en route from Eglin AFB to England AFB I asked Pensacola if I could do a drop-in to Lady Lex. They approved it, and we performed two in-trail visual low approaches. I have no idea what the lights (ball) meant, I just put the flightpath marker on the stern and drove in at 2.5 degrees glidepath. There were a whole bunch of people watching as I and a minute later my wingman went around (wave off) because it was probably the first time anyone had seen an A-10 perform a carrier approach. Lot of respect for those guys, it looked hard at 2 in the afternoon on a pleasant spring afternoon. Imagine a night low-viz approach and landing with rough seas.
Flip side: I flew against a lot of Naval aviators who seemed not as proficient at things like basic fighter maneuvers and weapons deliveries. They were not getting the stick time needed to remain at the top of their game; this was during the s****y 90s with reduced budgets, and they had high BINGO fuels (the fuel state they have to return to base) so they could stay proficient at that most critical training event, the carrier landing. They'd come back to Lemoore NAS where I was deployed for DACT support and practice a couple of carrier landings in the F/A-18, an aircraft already lacking endurance of the F-15 or F-16, so we'd only get one engagement in the Warning Areas off the central California coast and they'd head home, while my wingman and I would stay behind in our F-16s for a couple of 1-v-1 sets before RTB to Lemoore.
Carrier landings have to be the absolute toughest non-combat task there is; I have made one carrier approach in my life, the Lexington was moored off of Pensacola, there was no launch and recovery training taking place, and while en route from Eglin AFB to England AFB I asked Pensacola if I could do a drop-in to Lady Lex. They approved it, and we performed two in-trail visual low approaches. I have no idea what the lights (ball) meant, I just put the flightpath marker on the stern and drove in at 2.5 degrees glidepath. There were a whole bunch of people watching as I and a minute later my wingman went around (wave off) because it was probably the first time anyone had seen an A-10 perform a carrier approach. Lot of respect for those guys, it looked hard at 2 in the afternoon on a pleasant spring afternoon. Imagine a night low-viz approach and landing with rough seas.
Flip side: I flew against a lot of Naval aviators who seemed not as proficient at things like basic fighter maneuvers and weapons deliveries. They were not getting the stick time needed to remain at the top of their game; this was during the s****y 90s with reduced budgets, and they had high BINGO fuels (the fuel state they have to return to base) so they could stay proficient at that most critical training event, the carrier landing. They'd come back to Lemoore NAS where I was deployed for DACT support and practice a couple of carrier landings in the F/A-18, an aircraft already lacking endurance of the F-15 or F-16, so we'd only get one engagement in the Warning Areas off the central California coast and they'd head home, while my wingman and I would stay behind in our F-16s for a couple of 1-v-1 sets before RTB to Lemoore.
I hope that status quo has changed since then.
I think that's been prevalent for decades (we heard and saw the same when I was in and I predate you by 10+ years), you guys just had more time for ACM training because of Navy guys having to really stay proficient at trapping. The reality is that the preferred fuel state for a carrier trap is just enough for one go around if you bolter the initial. If you bolter the 2nd then it's time for a drink from the tanker or you get to swim.
And you get a real hard look at your stick and rudder skills.
Oh, for the record, you look for green lights on the ball. But you know that now.
An A10 carrier trap would be interesting to watch.
I think that's been prevalent for decades (we heard and saw the same when I was in and I predate you by 10+ years), you guys just had more time for ACM training because of Navy guys having to really stay proficient at trapping. The reality is that the preferred fuel state for a carrier trap is just enough for one go around if you bolter the initial. If you bolter the 2nd then it's time for a drink from the tanker or you get to swim.
And you get a real hard look at your stick and rudder skills.
Oh, for the record, you look for green lights on the ball. But you know that now.
An A10 carrier trap would be interesting to watch.
It would be, we didn't have a tailhook in the A-10.
The F-16 DOES have one, as do most other USAF fighters. However, they are for arrestments as a result of an emergency and not for stopping before a swim.
i dont know but its been said,
air force wings are made of lead.
i dont know but i've been told,
navy wings are made of gold.
sorry sluggo, but my family is a navy family
My dad was Navy, was a Purple Heart recipient as a result of a kamikaze attack on his ship near Attu in 1945 when he was 18. He razzed me a lot about going Air Force, and the Navy did offer me Academy and ROTC full-rides a couple months before the Air Force, but unlike the Air Force, could not guarantee me a pilot slot. The lieutenant handling my applications and accession stated "Well, there's a much better chance you'll end up in a sub or on a surface ship, we're the Navy, not the Air Force." The Air Force on the other hand offered me a pilot slot right away. My uncle, a B-24 waist gunner, was pleased at my choice.
When I was an OV-10 forward air controller I used to cringe when I heard I would be controlling Navy F/A-18s because they frankly could not spell CAS. The Marine Hornets were, along with A-4s and Harriers, much more proficient at CAS and could be counted on to follow JFIRE procedures. And not bomb the simulated friendlies.
sluggo, my family has a long history with the navy. both my grandfathers were navy, in fact one of them visited japan in 1915. he wanted to rejoin the navy in 1941, but since he was working for the railroad at the time, and thus in a protected occupation, they refused to allow him to rejoin. of course by then he was also 46 years old as well.
my aunt, two uncles, and a cousin by marriage were all navy also. in fact my father enlisted, but was booted out for a number of reasons. i did have two uncles that were air force, both ended up in the intelligence branch, one with the CIA and used his air force position as part of his NOC, the other was not CIA but actual air force intelligence.
in the end i have mad respect for all our service members, past and present.
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