Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
If that looks weird, that’s because it’s a hornet guy…er person….er pilot… making an effort to get his/her jet on centerline.
N
Centerline? No need. After all it’s a Hornet. Plenty o’ room. Nothing to see hear folks. Move along. We’ll let you know if a Whale enters the break…
Maybe he did it on purpose, his previous perfect traps being all “Bo-Ring!” and tending to induce complacency in the LSOs and flight-deck guys?
“Hey, look alive, there! Just kiddin’!”
Not really, but I betcha people have claimed such notions in the past.
“I did it that way on purpose” may sometimes be the right excuse, and may even work.
Prolly not with video evidence as is the case with all carrier recoveries since way back when.
He lacks a fixed bayonet on his F-18: the pilot’s a Marine afterall.
Ya know, that would be *funny*. A rifle rack in an F/A-18.
I blame the El Camino picture for that thought.
– Max
Marine pilots actually listen to the LSO’s!
- That’s a USMC “OK Pass.”
– Does the United States Navy actually have a rate called
“Mass Communications Specialist?”
What tin-eared bureaucrat coined that name?
Sheesh!
Headspace,
In of January 2006, the Navy combined a the ratings of DM, JO, LI, and PH into Mass Communications Specialist (MC).
How ’bout this one?
Excellent crosswind technique! (says the bugsmasher pilot who actually has to worry about mundane things like that!)
And ever one to dredge up a Blast From The Past, I present:
TO KILL A CARRIER
The Warlords Vs Shangri La
The USS Shangri-La was a beautiful sight from 17,000 feet up! The huge gray ship was clearly visible against the deep blue Atlantic. The white numbers 38 stood out boldly between the forward elevator and the bow edge of the wooden carrier deck. The carrier was entering a 180 turn towards Foxtrot Corpen– the aircraft recovery heading. The Shang was not nearly as big as the Saratoga, but we welcomed Shang over the Intrepid and the slow Lexington. The date was 22 September 1964. The busy, durable Shang had just finished a Mediterranean Sea cruise in mid August. The Warlords of VMF(AW) 451 were assigned to the carrier for a one month cruise in the Caribbean. Most squadron pilots had over forty carrier arrested landings in F-8′s. The Shang had a superb reputation and we considered our orders a great opportunity to excel.
The sixteen Warlord F-8′s orbited overhead until receiving a Charlie time. The Crusaders then descended VFR in four-plane divisions, moved into the correct flight spacing and flew up the right side of the ship in tight parade. With hooks dangling like wasps stingers, each division of sleek crusaders passed the island at 500 feet and 350 knots. Making a good first impression was important to us. The breakups and pattern were nearly perfect, while the ball call to arrestment and deck procedures reflected a high level of experience. My pride suffered badly as a hook-skip bolter caused me to go around. The only guy to screw up a perfect show-off!
It was great to be back to the land of excitement; an Aircraft Carrier! The screaming, stomach thrilling rapid acceleration of the booming catapult! Followed an hour or so later by the hard-jarring, crushing, arrested landing! Still, we had one walk-aboard gold-bar FNG who had most of the capable pilots nervous. The skipper, “Tasmanian Devil” Davis, had rushed the young pilot through Phase I for his Natops qualification for the carrier. The FNG barely made the flight time requirement. He was dubbed, “The Wedge” after demonstrating that he was the “world’s simplest tool.” Wedge could be expected to perform in sync with “Murphy’s Law.”
We flew a heavy schedule right from the start. Three other pilots and I had the JCOC Air show and finger four parade strafed every morning between Cheerless Point and Swamp Lagoon. After JCOC on the morning of the 25th, I had two more flights that afternoon. One had wedge as number two on a division tactics flight. Bob Foley, Jim McRoberts and I never saw Wedge after catapult. He didn’t rendezvous nor did he come up on any radio frequency. The COD reported observing a crusader chasing flying fish about 20 miles from Shang. Wedge showed up on final after our recovery. His first two passes were unsafe and he was waved off. Finally, the third pass resulted in a trap. Wedge mentioned that he had shut down with 200 lb. of fuel. He had violated all NORDO rules!
I told the Ops Officer to never fly Wedge with me again. Quaker Rice, our young and talented LSO, asked the Tasmanian Devil to ground Wedge. The Tango Delta chewed on Quaker while stabbing his index finger three inches into Quakers chest. Tazz had his own evaluation of Wedge. Wedge had wings therefore he must be qualified for the carrier. Tazz was a tough act. He was known for random acts of tossing. He had tossed phones, chairs, majors, and civilians.
The next afternoon, Wedge was launched again as number two in a four plane division with Ops Officer “LG” Linman, Ted Berwald and Fly Cunningham. The Wedge kept his radio and the flight was fairly routine until recovery. Linman trapped. Wedge called, “Sader ball, three point one, manual.” Quaker spoke, “Roger, keep it coming.” A few seconds later, Quaker called, “Power. Power.” Then screamed, “Power! Power! Wave-off! Wave-off!” Wedge contacted the rounddown just forward of the main gear. The left gear collapsed and the tail section burst into flames. The F-8 bounded up the angle deck looking like an ignited napalm canister. The doomed crusader’s hook snagged the last wire. Wedge hit the afterburner during deceleration and the plane pulled the arresting cable out far enough to go over the port front edge of the angle and came to rest in a 90 degree bank with the bottom of the aircraft pressed against the face of the angle deck. The aircraft’s nose was pointing toward the bow while the windswept burning fuselage and the afterburner roared into the ship’s ventilation system. The LSO’s were being barbecued and quickly scrambled to safety. The smoke and debris from the burning tires, fuselage, jet fuel, hydraulic fluid, and other materials were carried throughout the ship’s interior.
The crash crew personnel pulled Wedge from the cockpit. Typical Wedge, he was quickly yanked back toward the fire by his oxygen hose which was still attached to the seat pan. After what seemed an eternity, the deck crew finally shut off the engine. Above the inferno, Ted cleaned up by raising the gear and lowering the wing, and called, “We have NBC 350 at 200. We are bingo at this time.” Ted and Fly knew the Shang’s traps were over and diverted to Marine Beaufort.
The inside of the carrier was virtually a fecal sandwich. The soot and black tar substance from burning debris that entered the air ducts was even inside our safes. The staterooms were virtually unlivable. The F-8′s were catapulted ashore the following morning. The Ship went into dry-dock for extensive repairs. Wedge had the distinction of making the last trap on the wooden deck of the Shangri-La.
Many of the ships crew came to visit us that last night of 26 September and toasted our squadron for terminating the cruise. Their shore period had been much too short anyway. “Request permission to go ashore, Sir!”
Wedge lost his crotch-keys a few weeks later by a Pilot Disposition Board.
Just when he was getting good at it!
Sid @9, unless I’m very much mistaken, that particular FRS stud is on his way to the ace. Not that I’ve ever caught a one-wire (that you can prove) but I suspect his next move will be to look over at 1:30 – 2:00 o’clock for his yellow shirt and suddenly realize he’s way up there at 12:30 instead.
Then will come the sinking feeling in his stomach as he clears the landing area. If he’s got the brass he’ll take a quick peek to starboard and see that 1 1/4″ braided steel cable retracting back to battery.
In the engine closest to the fantail. Ugh.
Ditto what Lex said. It’s the taxi of shame.
Sid, we would have graded that:
– UNWSFLLUC TT1
Translation:
No Grade. Used Nosewheel Steering for last line-up correction. Taxi to the Taxi 1 wire.
Lex, also the chance it’s an FRS LSO on a Bag-ex. Then the 1 wire is OK. (as is the grade, nyuk nyuk).
Great story Sid!
Looks like a test at carrier suit! OK or NG, the double slider w/egg still tastes the same after all the crying is done!
Back around ’80, I think it was Sara, had a Marine Phantom squadron aboard. Watching night plat with popcorn was more popular entertainment than the T&A flick playing in the RR! That squadrons theme song, played at the Follies, was: “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen! (Luckily no one was killed)
b2
Doesn’t seem too dangerous [from an outsider's perspective] till you see THIS TRAP…
And for Daveg @10, a little tale of crosswind carrier landings from Pinch.