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Power, wave off, abort, $#%$, Eject!
- Thread starter Pitchlock
- Start date
Gotcha, kind of what I figured. Thanks for the info.
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
And I have learned something from this thread.
Use the LSO, but make sure he knows what the hell problems you have if any (wind, weight, no flaps, single engine)..
Use the LSO, but make sure he knows what the hell problems you have if any (wind, weight, no flaps, single engine)..
Spectacular observation. The LSO is there to save your ass, however if you don't let him or her know what kind of aircraft you are bringing aboard, you they can't help you. There have been instances in the past where the tower or aircrew has not gotten the word to paddles, and the aircraft was lost. Paddles could have helped out, but were unaware of the problem.
As for A4 and kmac, I totally agree that everyone should strive for top hook, but I would much rather have a nugget fly 2 balls hi all the way down and catch his fair 3 or 4 instead of playing for the center ball every time and settling into the taxi 1. There are but a handful of Naval Aviators that strap on a jet and are natural ball flyers from the start. The other 99.9% of us have to work at it. You should learn from every pass and strive for excellence, however you must realize your abilities. Personally as a RAG paddles, I do not want my nugget pilots trying to fly a centered ball their first night pass because more often than not, they are not good enough to anticipate the burble and it just gets worse from there. Showing up controllable from an LSO standpoint and with good energy on the jet is the best. Getting better from EVERY pass is even better. The main goal is a safe and expeditios recovery.
And Waveoffs are only free at the field if you think you are gonna kill yourself or crash the jet. There is nothing free at the boat..... not even midrats!!!
Good stuff .... appreciate your input .... and basically ALL right, with a few exceptions ... if the Nugget/first night qual does NOT seek the centered ball at night ... what IS HE GONNA' LOOK AT ... ??!!?? It's DARK out there ...!!!!
FLY A CENTERED BALL!!!!!! FLY A CENTERED BALL !!!!!
WHAT IS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS CONCEPT, PEOPLE !!??!!??!!
It's NEVER BEEN ANY DIFFERENT .... until ..... now????
One exception (to prove the rule): My first night traps on the Ticonderoga in the San Clemente channel ... she was pitchin' and heavin' so-o-o-o-o badly .... the LSO just said:
"Don't chase the ball ... the ship's heaving .... don't look at line-up ... the ship's rolling badly ... JUST LISTEN TO ME !!!!
I did ... went from MRT to idle a couple of times on a couple of passes .... STARK TERROR .... and I got top hook ... and got to fly home instead of riding the airlift back to base ... even with 4 Fleet requals amongst the 16 BOAT STUDs.
FLY A CENTERED BALL !!!!!
Believe it.
Fly a centered ball if you can!!! However, the golden rule of Naval Aviation......
If you can't be good..... Be HIGH!!! :icon_smil
If you can't be good..... Be HIGH!!! :icon_smil
Again ... one slight correction ... if you can't be good .... BE LUCKY.
Being HIGH and not correcting is a WAVE-OFF on my deck.
I'd rather be LUCKY than GOOD any day.
That is one long recovery.... While the four on the fly (or three if you are on the Reagan) isn't an OK pass, it shortens the recovery time and thus making the SWOs happy. Who knows, those couple minutes might get everyone on deck before the ship can find that rain storm. You know it is off the bow, they just have to get there before the end of the recovery!
No it's not ... you train your guys ... squadrons individually and the AirWing as a whole ... YOU SET THE STANDARDS .... they KNOW the standards ... and they respond.
Result: they fly the ball ... they get aboard. First time; every time, all things being equal.
The Air Wing: They're all basically good sticks ... you just have to show them the bottom line .... that's why you're the LSO .... otherwise .... you may as well become the personnel officer .... ????
If a centered ball is the standard ... that's what they fly. If you accept something less ... that's what they deliver.
It's never been any different.
Not trying to stir the pot, but it is physically impossible to fly a centered ball these days
Not trying to stir the pot, but it is physically impossible to fly a centered ball these days
And I think this puts the previous conversation between myself and A4s in perspective. When he says "centered ball" I would say "creaster" due to it being slightly above the datums on an IFLOLS setup.
A4s, I think we're agreeing with each other more than we realize. I'm not saying a pilot shouldn't strive to be perfect and get that centered ball pass into the 3. The problem I've seen is that a centered ball pass into the 3 gets more (OK) than the 1-ball high (which isn't much on the IFLOLS) pass into the 3 which seems to be an automatic Oak. Flying a "rails" 1-ball high pass is no different from flying a "centered" ball pass in terms of skill and attitude. We're not talking about flying high to be safe or because it's "good-enough." I'm saying that I have to fly a ball high because that's what paddles sees as being "rails." Cool?
I think what your refer to is technique. I remember as a nugget coming aboard at night and I did my best to fly a centered ball but like you say, just about everytime, I would settle to a low in the middle. Nature of the beast for some us. Therefore, my technique changed to flying a slightly high ball to help with the settle in the middle to in close. I'm not talking about a ball high, but about a 1/2 ball high....which I think is what we were taught anyhow. Ended up with a 3.8 night line period for our last line period.
Always, younger Brother.
.... so long as it looks like this:
What's that lens? It looks... so.... simple....
That would look quite similiar to a 1-ball high approach today. And by the way, you're lined up right.
Wait a second. There must be some hornet guys in here. Don't you just put the "notch in the crotch" fly the E bracket and call it good. I thought the ball was just there for the E-2, C-2 and Prowler guys. Gotta get those guys a hud and we can forget about this whole crazy ball thing!!!