What Happens If You Can't Land on a Carrier?

[John Laurens]

I mean, let's saw you get winged and pass all the training, but can't land on a carrier?

And, what happens when even experienced pilots have trouble landing during a storm, it's pouring rain, and the ship is a rocking back and forth? How can any pilot land under such conditions?

 

[Brett327]

I mean, let's saw you get winged and pass all the training, but can't land on a carrier?

You get lots of practice.... which helps with all of the above.

 

[HuggyU2]

Reading threads here (and elsewhere) about Magic Carpet, it sure sounds to me like this is becoming less and less of an issue.

Pretty amazing technology.

 

[Brett327]

Reading threads here (and elsewhere) about Magic Carpet, it sure sounds to me like this is becoming less and less of an issue.

Pretty amazing technology.

Landing on the boat... still hard. Last 18 seconds, slightly less workload w/ PLM.

 

[kmac]

Who gets winged before CQ? Or is this referring to the RAG or Fleet quals (but is in the training thread)?

Otherwise Brett's answer is the cleanest: you get lots of practice. This was true when we had a pilot joining the air wing mid-cruise. He received quite a bit of FCLPs at home to ensure we (the squadron) was sending the boat a proficient flyer.

 

[sevenhelmet]

FNAEB is the answer you're looking for. I've seen it once in my career where a guy somehow got all the way to his fleet squadron before scaring the shit out of everybody, including himself. The final straw was the night he nearly hit the ramp pulling slow on a waveoff, and the ship's captain told the Air Boss to divert him. He was FNAEB'd and sent back to the FRS. I lost track of what happened to him after that, but I believe he ended up in another community. He was apparently a good dude, just freaked out behind the ship at night. I don't know how he got through initial RAG CQ.

Reading threads here (and elsewhere) about Magic Carpet, it sure sounds to me like this is becoming less and less of an issue.

Pretty amazing technology.

Many pilots have their struggles behind the ship, but the kind of story I outline above is extremely rare. It's another reason I'm opposed to them doing away with jet advanced CQ. Even with PLM, it's more than possible for someone to F things away pretty badly.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

Many pilots have their struggles behind the ship, but the kind of story I outline above is extremely rare. It's another reason I'm opposed to them doing away with jet advanced CQ. Even with PLM, it's more than possible for someone to F things away pretty badly.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in this job was from my mid-stage FCLP paddles: “Never talk shit about someone else’s flying behind the boat until you have flown your last pass ever, because you can still just as easily throw a turd or scare the shit out of yourself.”

 

[sevenhelmet]

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in this job was from my mid-stage FCLP paddles: “Never talk shit about someone else’s flying behind the boat until you have flown your last pass ever, because you can still just as easlily throw a turd or scare the shit out of yourself.”

I may have flown my last pass behind the ship, but I'm definitely not talking shit. It's a humbling business.

 

[Waveoff]

We have a guy in our VP squadron who transitioned from the F18 to the P8 after he wasn’t able to complete CQs (to the best of my knowledge). I would have to imagine the Navy would not want to kick these guys out, or even transition them out of aviation entirely if the only issue was something very specific to a certain community and their talents could be better applied to another aviation airframe.

 

[sevenhelmet]

And, what happens when even experienced pilots have trouble landing during a storm, it's pouring rain, and the ship is a rocking back and forth? How can any pilot land under such conditions?

We sort of forgot to answer this part of your question. The short answer is, it's a team effort with the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs). They are there in part to help assess ship's conditions and the rocking of the deck (mostly in pitch) and can wave aircraft off if they are out of sync with the movement of the deck (e.g. plane coming down with deck coming up = hard landing... bad). If the LSO waves you off, you go around, no questions asked. If the LSO asks for power, you add power. Line up calls... etc. Also, there's always a plan to have gas airborne, or a suitable divert for an escape valve if conditions get too severe. If you're "blue water", there's no divert, but then there has to be gas airborne and an alert tanker ready to launch if someone has trouble getting aboard. Getting back to the LSOs; they can often see things we can't from the cockpit. I can personally attest to having my bacon saved at least twice due to a timely LSO call, not to mention the countless times a timely mic click or "liiiittle power" call helped me tag the target wire for a snazzy and confidence-inspiring landing vs. shining my ass in front of the air wing.

So... thanks, paddles, for helping me come home in one piece.



By the way, all of these challenges still exist with PLM. Lineup is purely sight-picture, and the movement of the deck can still cause you to get sent around.

 

[zippy]

I mean, let's saw you get winged and pass all the training, but can't land on a carrier?

You get kicked out of the pipeline. Potentially sent to something land based fixed wing, rotary wing as a pilot. Potentially get kept in your community but go back through flight school as a NFO and end up in the back seat. Potentially get set UAVs or out of aviation all together. A lot will depend on the needs of the service, your attitude and your performance in training.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

This concludes episode 7 of John Lauren’s’ random questions.

Stay tuned in a few weeks for episode 8.

 

[number9]

We sort of forgot to answer this part of your question. The short answer is, it's a team effort with the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs). They are there in part to help assess ship's conditions and the rocking of the deck (mostly in pitch) and can wave aircraft off if they are out of sync with the movement of the deck (e.g. plane coming down with deck coming up = hard landing... bad). If the LSO waves you off, you go around, no questions asked. If the LSO asks for power, you add power. Line up calls... etc. Also, there's always a plan to have gas airborne, or a suitable divert for an escape valve if conditions get too severe. If you're "blue water", there's no divert, but then there has to be gas airborne and an alert tanker ready to launch if someone has trouble getting aboard. Getting back to the LSOs; they can often see things we can't from the cockpit. I can personally attest to having my bacon saved at least twice due to a timely LSO call, not to mention the countless times a timely mic click or "liiiittle power" call helped me tag the target wire for a snazzy and confidence-inspiring landing vs. shining my ass in front of the air wing.

So... thanks, paddles, for helping me come home in one piece.



By the way, all of these challenges still exist with PLM. Lineup is purely sight-picture, and the movement of the deck can still cause you to get sent around.

Are LSOs available on the radio, visually, or both? I'm guessing at least radio by your description of things.

 

[Mos]

We sort of forgot to answer this part of your question. The short answer is, it's a team effort with the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs). They are there in part to help assess ship's conditions and the rocking of the deck (mostly in pitch) and can wave aircraft off if they are out of sync with the movement of the deck (e.g. plane coming down with deck coming up = hard landing... bad). If the LSO waves you off, you go around, no questions asked. If the LSO asks for power, you add power. Line up calls... etc. Also, there's always a plan to have gas airborne, or a suitable divert for an escape valve if conditions get too severe. If you're "blue water", there's no divert, but then there has to be gas airborne and an alert tanker ready to launch if someone has trouble getting aboard. Getting back to the LSOs; they can often see things we can't from the cockpit. I can personally attest to having my bacon saved at least twice due to a timely LSO call, not to mention the countless times a timely mic click or "liiiittle power" call helped me tag the target wire for a snazzy and confidence-inspiring landing vs. shining my ass in front of the air wing.

So... thanks, paddles, for helping me come home in one piece.



By the way, all of these challenges still exist with PLM. Lineup is purely sight-picture, and the movement of the deck can still cause you to get sent around.

I think the PBS documentary Carrier depicted this well.

 

[Swanee]

Are LSOs available on the radio, visually, or both? I'm guessing at least radio by your description of things.