SEA LEGS

six manual pairs all 5.2 Roger ball we got 25 9mm they did a physiology study of Navy pilots during actual combat mission they measure things like pulse rate heart beats adrenaline flow and breathing patterns and they found that the needle quivered most when the pilots came back to land on the deck of the aircraft carrier you putting 20 tonnes of airplane on a patch of heaving rolling carrier deck created more tension and pressure than dodging surface-to-air missiles even among the most experienced pilots it's probably the single biggest test of airmanship and flight crews make no pretense about it either even with the self-confidence inherent in all the pilots and fly their aircraft to the limits of its performance and stake their lives on their own flying ability even these pilots long remember their carrier life especially in bad weather with ceilings down to a hundred feet visibility may be half a mile and you're making a carrier control approach although you're under positive control of the ship at all times except for the final phase the landing signal officer takes over it's the most demanding kind of flying at night it's even tougher you're looking for a pattern of light about three-quarters of a mile ahead to set up your approach if you hit a gust of wind the airplane will climb or descend on you and you've got to make a glide slope correct or go around again sometimes it's so black you can't believe it no stars no moon and you're hundreds of miles at sea with no reference you lose all depth perception it's as if you were going down a mineshaft or into a closet and closing the door behind you it's a special time the flying that takes a special kind of pilot and a special kind of airplane it takes intensive training experience and confidence an accommodation of man and machine a blending of skill and structure Navy pilot airplane with sea life [Music] much has been written of the carrier task force and the evolution of the carrier itself as a self-sustaining weapon system that is the heart of Naval Aviation a city at sea with over five thousand men enough supplies to last six months to a year and over 80 aircraft filling a variety of roles that continues to grow in the face of new technology the new threat with the current CD concept which combines attack and ASW capabilities in a single hull today's carriers must handle a variety of aircraft all of which require different staff expertise more spares and ground support equipment carriers have gotten bigger of course but so have the aircraft the essex-class has been replaced by the larger Forrestal class and nuclear carriers f-4s are gradually being replaced by f-14 aircraft and platforms in hand and at the same time limit each other yet the fact remains that Navy aircraft do not compromise performance for compatibility with the carrier consider that the Navy f4 and a7 have been eminently successful as primary weapon systems for the US Air Force on the other hand no aircraft design or land operations has ever been converted for it takes more than a tail hook to earn your sea legs no matter what its mission or performance a carrier aircraft is a special breed for one thing is built to survive in an environment land-based aircraft were never designed to tolerate launched from a steam-powered catapult that induces an acceleration loading better than five times the force of gravity and yanked off the deck and a couple of hundred feet as one pilot put it it's like you're inside a slingshot and your intention waiting then they let go and you're shot into space like a little BB you go from zero to a hundred sixty knots and two and a half seconds with no runway left over once airborne performance varies with the specific aircraft and the mission at hand occipital mix on the CB today calls for three attack squadrons two fighter squadrons early warning reconnaissance and electronic countermeasure aircraft as well as the means to counter the growing submarine threat it's a total maritime responsibility Vince the carrier operates a safe distance from shore and can move 50 miles or so between launch and recovery each airplane must carry additional fuel to complete its mission and get back to the ship and the chair plane must also carry enough gas to give pilots a few extra shots at the deck if need be getting back on the carrier is indeed the ultimate challenge its precision flying but no one even pretends to be a soft Lander you fly until the deck comes up and you hit it and what has loosely been described as a controlled crash immediately applying full engine power in case you fail to snatch the wire a 50-ton pull on the tailhook brings the airplane to a jolting halt everything wants to keep going forward and for a second or two you think it will but the backlash quickly knows itself out that's the way it was designed a carrier airplane is a rigid structure but like all structures distorts under load it twists and bends every time it leaves the deck and every time it returns you can't see it but when the landing gear hits the whole queue so large bends momentarily under the impact and the wingtips want to reach down to the deck the gear itself literally springs back after impact and imparts a reverse loading on the structure quite a difference from land-based aircraft which descend at a reasonably flat angle and flare into a smooth landing with runway in front of them as far as the eye can see little extra help when you need it by comparison a carrier landing calls for a slow steep approach with engines and flight systems synchronized for maximum controllability exceptional over the nose disability is essential to pick out the visual landing aid system or meatball and to establish the correct line up so critical for safe landing the aircraft must also be especially responsive to changes in thrust and attitude and flow approach speeds are desirable because they give the pilots more time to make corrections coming in at 115 knots instead of hundred forties they might not seem like much but the fact is every knot counts and floor is safer carrier airplanes use about 10 percent of the runway required by land-based aircraft and are designed to hit sync speeds up to 25 sheets per second about three times the speed and nine times the impact energy of a typical land-based aircraft to take these kinds of loads requires a heavy-duty landing gear and supporting structure an arresting hook system integrated with the fuselage to withstand the deceleration force up to six GS on some aircraft and the fatigue life that will see the entire structure safely through some 6,000 carrier landings before ever getting to the carrier of course individual airplanes are subjected to rigorous static fatigue and dynamic tests to verify structural integrity from zero load to failure then flight testing low-speed handling touch and gos I feed cruise and maneuvering through the aircraft entire operating envelope carrier suitability test at the Navy facility at the touchant River Maryland and Lakehurst New Jersey include everything from catapult launches and arrested landings at various conditions and engaging speeds to barricade arrest for all the differences between carrier and land-based aircraft it's hard to tell one from the other by just looking internal design and structure separate the two more than anything else except for a few things like the arresting hook maybe the candid windshield launch bar and whole backlinks but essentially it's a matter of overall inherent strength and oh yes the wings fold on most carrier aircraft with just so much square footage to work with everything that goes on a carrier including the aircraft is packaged as compactly as possible space is always a problem particularly when it comes to maintenance most of which is confined to a hangar deck that precludes the use of much of the big support and handling equipment found at a typical Airport in such tight quarters easy access becomes even more critical to simplify inspections and minimize downtime there are many other features peculiar to carrier aircraft maintaining static balance for example to prevent tip back during deck handling providing integral crew boarding features to eliminate ladders and work stands on the deck using special alloys and sealants to protect the aircraft against the high humidity and salt spray environment so conducive to corrosion designing engine inlets to minimize ingestion of hot catapult steam and ejection seats that afford safety Gretz at ground level and zero speed in terms of performance the requirement to fly slowly demands good handling characteristics the high-lift devices and moderate wing loading that is the bigger wing essential to lower speeds also means better than average maneuverability to pay off an all-weather attack bomber like the a6 can handle itself pretty well in a tight turn similarly the f-14 uses a straight-on swept wing to achieve low takeoff and landing speed and low speed maneuverability and the highly swept wing for supersonic flight as a result the Navy has an airplane designed for fleet defense yet equally effective for close-in air-to-air combat of course no aircraft with sea legs is going to be effective without people with sea legs to manage the system the right people in the right place at the right time from the first drawings off the board to the first operating system to the first carrier landing and into an environment that might well be the best organized and most efficient military system ever put together it's the aircraft that makes the carrier viable but it's the pilots who pay it off and right from the start Navy tailhook pilots think they're better than anyone else and who's to say they're not yet they're only as good as the men who maintain the aircraft the technicians who groom the weapons gear the mechanics who watch over the engines the plane captains who see that they're ready for flight the handling officer who spots them on the deck and the air boss who tells them when to come and when to go is a community like no other dedicated man putting their skills on the line every day moving these airplanes with sea legs on and off the ship in a continuing readiness [Music]