Omakase

Amazon Search
«  
  »

Carrier Suit

By lex, on November 28th, 2011

The Navy’s F-35C is going through EMALS-assisted catapult launches.

Short roll, basic engine. Very nice.

Although young Lieutenant Talbert ought to relax a little. Not sit so straight in his seat.

This can’t be his first barbeque.

Share
November 28th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Flying, Navy

25 comments to Carrier Suit

  • SpazSinbad
    November 28, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    Apparently EMALS is a lot gentler for the gentlemen.

  • BeachBum
    November 28, 2011 at 5:37 pm

    I’m a taxpayer and I approve of this use of my funding.

  • Mike M. (of the UAVs)
    November 28, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    Wait until they start doing full-blown arrested landing tests. In-flight engagements, etc.

  • Nose
    November 28, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    Interesting that there was no “hook up man” at the nose gear during hook up. Is that a Lakehurst thing since this is a low threat launch or part of EMALS or an F 35 thing?

    Pretty low rotation off the cat. Made my inner Air Boss shout “ROTATE OFF THE BOW!!”

  • Nose
    November 28, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Interesting that there was no “hook up man” at the nose gear during hook up. Is that a Lakehurst thing since this is a low threat launch or part of EMALS or an F 35 thing?

    Pretty low rotation off the cat. Made my inner Air Boss shout “ROTATE OFF THE BOW!!”

    • SpazSinbad
      November 28, 2011 at 11:44 pm

      http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/11/28/the-future-is-here-emals-launches-f-35/

      “…UPDATE: We’d heard at the time that the first F-35C EMALS launch didn’t go initially as scheduled, but Navy spokesman Victor Chen told Buzz on Monday that there was nothing nefarious about the delay. Here’s what he said:

      “Initial fit checks required a relatively simple adjustment to the launch bar, which was completed, but not in time to meet crew day requirements. Adverse weather then postponed the launch until the next possible day, Nov. 18. It’s important to note that JSF testing was not originally included in the aircraft compatibility test schedule for EMALS, but the testing of the F-35C presented an early opportunity to test both the aircraft and the launcher.”

  • MaxDamage
    November 28, 2011 at 10:31 pm

    EMALS. Electro-Magnetic, isn’t it? You know, a big ol’ magnet controlled by electricity? Works a treat, it would seem.

    So we have these aircraft carriers under radio silence and visible light blackout operating at sea because, well, why advertise? Meanwhile we have this MAD gear (magnetic anomaly detection) on helicopters and buoys trying to find submarines due to the effect their being made of metal has as they slowly drift through the Earth’s magnetic field.

    I can’t be the only one to think of it, has anybody tried seeing at what range this magnetic launch system can be detected at? Because I’m thinking the carrier is going to launch multiple aircraft, and thus give the enemy multiple attempts to find our range, bearing, and direction of travel, if they can detect the signature magnetic field.

    Quite agreed, unless the thing is made by Lucas this ought to greatly reduce operating costs and such. I’m just wondering how we know we didn’t put a flashing neon light on the flight deck for anybody with a compass to find?

    – Max

    • JR
      November 29, 2011 at 3:47 am

      My guess is that the magnetic would be easier to mask than the infrared.

    • Eric Wilner
      November 29, 2011 at 11:10 am

      I’m not privy to the details, but it’s basically a big honkin’ induction motor that’s been unrolled, as it were, to give linear drive.
      Designing electric motors to keep their magnetic fields pretty well contained is old hat.
      I’m guessing that the magnetic paths are very nearly closed, and that the coils not in use at any given instant are not energized (Wikipedia says this is the case), so the stray fields, coming from small gaps, ought to fall off rapidly with distance (remembering the inverse-cube law for dipole fields).

  • Jeff Gauch
    November 28, 2011 at 10:57 pm

    As a former nuke I appreciate the concern for the ship’s precious bodily fluids, but have they figured out a way to make EMALS work without wiping every hard drive on the 03 level?

  • Marvin
    November 28, 2011 at 11:29 pm

    What about the ‘yellow shirt’ wearing those steel toed boots — Will they follow the aircraft off the bow????

    Was this pilot worried about which direction the EMALS was going to throw the aircraft?

  • SCOTTtheBADGER
    November 28, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    I still want to know what this will do to the E-2s EA-6Bs, and EF-18s.

  • SpazSinbad
    November 29, 2011 at 12:24 am

    “…In the past 12 months, the EMALS team launched a T-45 Goshawk, an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, a C-2A Greyhound and several F/A-18 aircraft with and without stores….” http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.NAVAIRNewsStory&id=4833

  • JR
    November 29, 2011 at 3:46 am

    The globlalsecurity.org article on emals has a few lines that caused me to smile. This one for instance.
    “The stators are protected by offsetting them from the slot in the flight deck. This is due to the contaminants, typically jet fuel, nuts, bolts, wrenches, hydraulic oil, etc., that constantly invade the trough through the slot and could, over time, affect the stators.”
    I can see fluids – but FOD? I would certainly hope some decent tool control will alleviate the issue of wrenches constantly invading the slot.

    But the real gem is this one, “The EMALS, however, will require a transition of expertise from mechanical to electrical/electronic.”

    V-2 is, right now, almost completely ABEs. Dirty apes is really as good a description as any. I remember seeing our ICs and EMs on occasion. We thought of them as more the professor type. They were always so clean and seemed so smart. We could fix just about anything but when the stuff with little electronic bits acted up we had to call them. Other than that, we didn’t interact all that much. Two different worlds. The few I did talk to tended to be rather unhappy with the hand they were dealt, being stuck working with us. More than a couple were washed out nuke school guys.

    EMALS looks to reduce manpower needs, but increase the need for those with a little more aptitude for the book learning it seems. I guess the greasy brutes will be limited to the gear. Though I doubt anyone is going to miss steam watches. Or cleaning out the water brakes. (Then again, I don’t think electricians will be hooking the birds up, or cleaning/painting behind the jbds – so a few ABEs will be safe in the cats.)

    Interesting times – watching all this change.

  • Jim Collins
    November 29, 2011 at 5:22 am

    I’m a little concerned about what it is going to do to the guy who’s bunk is next to the cat track? Is he going to get an MRI on every launch?

    • xformed
      November 29, 2011 at 5:49 am

      He’ll never have kids and eventually anything ferrous in his presence will just fly over to him and stick there…gonna suck going shopping, too…most likely will set off all those anti-shoplifting devices…Maybe people like this will be dubbed “Iron Men.”

    • JR
      November 29, 2011 at 6:19 am

      It can’t be any worse than all the radiation the flight deck crew are already soaking up every day just from the ship radar.

      • Jim Collins
        November 29, 2011 at 8:40 am

        Ahhh yes the thing responsible for that annoying little hum in the mouse headset everytime the antennae swept you. You might have a point.

      • Jeff Gauch
        November 29, 2011 at 12:32 pm

        “It can’t be any worse than all the radiation the flight deck crew are already soaking up every day just from the ship radar Skyfire.”

        Fixed it for you.
eXTReMe Tracker

View My Stats