Hey all,
I've noticed a lot guys posting and around who are the dreamers and the gonna-be's and I thought I would start a thread of experiences from the fleet guys for those who have yet to experience Naval and Marine Corps Aviation at its finest. So here is an experience I had when I was a Plane Captain.
We were on a CAG det out at Fallon, NV and it was a cool fall night on the desert, but clear sky's, a full moon and stars as far as the eye could see. We were conducting a CAG strike on targets out in the range and had every jet except about 3 going up all at once. Out of 12 jets in my squadron, 11 were launching that night. Something I will never forget was what I saw happen that night.
We had the entire night crew out on the flight line on the launch, every jet was loaded to the teeth with the most vicious weapons in the invantory. If you could picture grounds crews at full speed, flash lights waving in the dark, the blue taxi lights in the distance, the pure power and vibrations and lion's roar of 50+ jets that night, thats what it looked like. My pilot walked, we got him strapped in and started up and taxied out and most everyone left directly for the smoke pit after their jets taxied but I was like an anal father watching his daughter leave for a date, I always stayed out to make sure my jet got off the deck. So I took a seat on a power unit out on the flight line. As I was sitting there, I finally noticed that every jet about to launch was sitting wing tip to wing tip, position lights and strobes going, burners a blaz'n just sitting there like Knights on horse back or something. There were so many jets about to go, they had double up behind eachother just to keep the taxi way's clear. I saw the first three taxi into position an hold on the far runway and three more taxi and hold on the closer run way. I looked a little to the south and saw about half a dozen H-60's hovering, soon they all rose up at once and just as quickly passed overhead and vanished into the dark. As I saw my breath in the cool night, I saw the cones light up on the far runway then the cones fire on the near runway. The first three Tomcats sped down the runway and lifted off in a perfect 3 ship, within seconds the next three Hornets on the near runway were off the deck just as beautifully. Soon three more were speeding down the runway and then three more went down the closer runway. Looking on the upwind, seeing just after burner and after burner vanishing into the dark sky was like something out of a movie.
Finally it took almost 20 minutes just to get all the jets off the deck. But just sitting there watching 50+ jets in the dark that night was such an awesome experience, I can't imagine what it was like being in the cockpit. A couple hours later the jets started popping over the bluffs in 4 and 6 ship formations and breaking into the patterns.
If your ever wanting to experience something that is as moving as that, make your dreams of flying come true. Get the grades and put in the work, cause all the BS and everything we go through to get there, whether is going Strike, Helo's, Maritime or whatever is worth every late night in the books and every missed party. Seeing American Air Power at its best is something I would not ever trade for anything.
Valion310 -
I've noticed a lot guys posting and around who are the dreamers and the gonna-be's and I thought I would start a thread of experiences from the fleet guys for those who have yet to experience Naval and Marine Corps Aviation at its finest. So here is an experience I had when I was a Plane Captain.
We were on a CAG det out at Fallon, NV and it was a cool fall night on the desert, but clear sky's, a full moon and stars as far as the eye could see. We were conducting a CAG strike on targets out in the range and had every jet except about 3 going up all at once. Out of 12 jets in my squadron, 11 were launching that night. Something I will never forget was what I saw happen that night.
We had the entire night crew out on the flight line on the launch, every jet was loaded to the teeth with the most vicious weapons in the invantory. If you could picture grounds crews at full speed, flash lights waving in the dark, the blue taxi lights in the distance, the pure power and vibrations and lion's roar of 50+ jets that night, thats what it looked like. My pilot walked, we got him strapped in and started up and taxied out and most everyone left directly for the smoke pit after their jets taxied but I was like an anal father watching his daughter leave for a date, I always stayed out to make sure my jet got off the deck. So I took a seat on a power unit out on the flight line. As I was sitting there, I finally noticed that every jet about to launch was sitting wing tip to wing tip, position lights and strobes going, burners a blaz'n just sitting there like Knights on horse back or something. There were so many jets about to go, they had double up behind eachother just to keep the taxi way's clear. I saw the first three taxi into position an hold on the far runway and three more taxi and hold on the closer run way. I looked a little to the south and saw about half a dozen H-60's hovering, soon they all rose up at once and just as quickly passed overhead and vanished into the dark. As I saw my breath in the cool night, I saw the cones light up on the far runway then the cones fire on the near runway. The first three Tomcats sped down the runway and lifted off in a perfect 3 ship, within seconds the next three Hornets on the near runway were off the deck just as beautifully. Soon three more were speeding down the runway and then three more went down the closer runway. Looking on the upwind, seeing just after burner and after burner vanishing into the dark sky was like something out of a movie.
Finally it took almost 20 minutes just to get all the jets off the deck. But just sitting there watching 50+ jets in the dark that night was such an awesome experience, I can't imagine what it was like being in the cockpit. A couple hours later the jets started popping over the bluffs in 4 and 6 ship formations and breaking into the patterns.
If your ever wanting to experience something that is as moving as that, make your dreams of flying come true. Get the grades and put in the work, cause all the BS and everything we go through to get there, whether is going Strike, Helo's, Maritime or whatever is worth every late night in the books and every missed party. Seeing American Air Power at its best is something I would not ever trade for anything.
Valion310 -
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