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Stupid Questions about Naval Aviation (Part 3)

Brett327

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You do a bunch of practice time in the pattern under carrier-like conditions (carrier lighting, LSOs, etc). These are called FCLPs, and they're required every time you go back to the boat after your currency lapses. You don't do any arrested landings as part of that training. Touch and goes for the most part. Arrested landings at the field are generally only done for emergencies/precautionary situations, though I have been to some fields where the airfield asked for practice arrestments for ground crew training.
 

Uncle Fester

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Dumb question... I know but ive always wondered... Is there a tailhook practice landing on a land runway? Basically, does a pilot get to practice landing with arresting cables on land before having to try it on an actual carrier? I assumed so because baptism by fire on a carrier could be really dangerous.

Like Brett said, FCLPs are flying the Boat pattern to a touch & go. Runway's marked up like the carrier Landing Area (LA) and LSOs grade your passes. So pretty much, everything but actually snagging a wire. There wouldn't really be much training benefit for the pilot to having a wire; if you fly the pass well - short of a hook skip - you'll trap.

Segueing into my own stupid question... Do most communities have barricade scenarios in their simulators? Or is it one of those "so rare it's not worth the time to train" things?
 

wlawr005

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
A barricade would just be a paddles talk down into the landing area. It wouldn't require the pilot to do anything different except not go to MIL when you slam into the ship. No reason to practice that...unless you're flying over it, there's no way you're gonna miss it.
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
"boat pattern" might be a misnomer if we are talking about FCLP's at NALF Fentress on rwy 23.........gross porkchop pattern at 800' and 2.2ish nm abeam.

I personally don't think FCLPs really do anything other than maybe introduce bad habit patterns. Granted it gets you thinking about boat specific stuff, but at least in the Hornet/Rhino, you can just put the VV next to the lens and hold it there. The power corrections are 100% different, and you never even have to think about lineup. I'd rather do 20 CQ sims than FCLPs. I guess it does get you looking around the pattern for interval and whatnot, which could be a good scan during day case I CQ, especially on the east coast when the vis is bad.

Obviously I would still agree that there is a time and place for them, but I think that is during an initial training syllabus. I just think fleet and/or cat other RAG FCLPs are dumb
 

armada1651

Hey intern, get me a Campari!
pilot
I agree. Especially with the horrible noise abatement patterns we have to use in the Oceana area, FCLPs are largely a huge waste of time and potential source of bad habits in my opinion. Also not a paddles, so what do I know?
 

Uncle Fester

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There's been a lot of churn for years about how the noise abatement rules at Fentress are going beyond being just detrimental and actually turning it into negative training. That's why they've been looking at another FCLP site for years (that and the heavy traffic load, etc). I'm curious how the E-2/C-2s bouncing at Wallops will work out.

Then again, the West Coast guys I've talked to weren't much of a fan of San Clemente, either. "You fly at the Boat to get ready for bouncing at the Rock," I was told.

71871.jpg
 

wlawr005

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pilot
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I'll be honest, I live halfway between Oceana and Fentress. Whenever anybody is bouncing at Fentress, the pictures on my walls rattle...if the weather is low and guys are going back and forth while trying to maintain VFR, I down right have to pause the TV until the noise is gone.

I don't mind it, but then again I could see people who aren't a part of it being tired of it. However, I think it's their job to relocate, not ours.
 

Uncle Fester

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...I don't mind it, but then again I could see people who aren't a part of it being tired of it. However, I think it's their job to relocate, not ours.

I sympathized with the folks in NC who didn't want a new OLF built there. They'd get the noise but no benefits (not like the Paddles and crash crews buying Red Bull at the quick-stop would be a boon to the economy), and they were there first.

Living near Fentress is another thing...it's been there a while, and airplanes flying around it day and night is what it's there for. Doesn't VA have noise/crash disclosure laws when you buy or build? I had a huge stack of paper about that to review and sign when I bought my house in Pensacola.

Incidentally, I lived literally right outside the main gate at NASP; the Blues practicing over my house with a newborn taking a nap. She slept right through it, even napping in her stroller outside. And I lived under the Oceana pattern in VB. Noisy, yes. The base was there when I moved in.
 

BigRed389

Registered User
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I sympathized with the folks in NC who didn't want a new OLF built there. They'd get the noise but no benefits (not like the Paddles and crash crews buying Red Bull at the quick-stop would be a boon to the economy), and they were there first.

Living near Fentress is another thing...it's been there a while, and airplanes flying around it day and night is what it's there for. Doesn't VA have noise/crash disclosure laws when you buy or build? I had a huge stack of paper about that to review and sign when I bought my house in Pensacola.

Incidentally, I lived literally right outside the main gate at NASP; the Blues practicing over my house with a newborn taking a nap. She slept right through it, even napping in her stroller outside. And I lived under the Oceana pattern in VB. Noisy, yes. The base was there when I moved in.

Same deal for renting at VA Beach...
 

Bronco

Lurking Member
Especially with the horrible noise abatement patterns we have to use in the Oceana area

Haha, these exist?? Someone must have messed this one up a couple weeks ago when a jet came roaring over the hilltop shopping center and set off EVERY car alarm in the lot. I thought it was kinda fun, shook my stomach right up into my throat. But there were more then a few scornful wannabe OC housewives.

Doesn't VA have noise/crash disclosure laws when you buy or build? I had a huge stack of paper about that to review and sign when I bought my house in Pensacola.

Yup, so many disclosure statements... Don't forget about the flooding.
 
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