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Re: Navy Carrier Landing question

  •  02-05-2006, 2:23 PM

    Re: Navy Carrier Landing question

    Where do you get your information ???
    Do you make this stuff up as you go along ???
    Have you been watching too much JAG ???

    The standard glidepath on the ship is 3.5 degrees.  We sometimes increase the glidepath to 3.75 or 4.0 degrees in conditions of high wind so that the "perceived glidepath" remains relatively constant.  (The glidepath relative to the earth being shallower than the glidepath relative to the ship due to wind over the deck / ship's forward speed.)

    If your hook skips the 3-wire and you catch the 4-wire, it is perfectly OK.  This is a "hook skip" and is fairly common.  (It was almost routine for the A-6 Intruder.)  IT IS NOT AN IN-FLIGHT ENGAGEMENT.  An in-flight engagement usually occurs when a pilot over-rotates the aircraft during a late waveoff and the hook engages the wire before the wheels touch the deck.  This basically results in a tug-of-war between the airplane and the ship and you can guess who wins.  The airplane usually comes crashing down on the flight deck (still holding the wire), and frequently will break one of the landing gear.

    We do not fly on the "backside of the power curve," but closer to L/D max (if you know anything about aerodynamics).  We fly at a constant angle of attack so that the pitch attitude of the aircraft remains constant and the hook touches down where it is supposed to... WHICH IS EXACTLY HALFWAY BETWEEN THE 3 AND 4 WIRES  which are exactly 40 feet apart on a Nimitz class boat.  If you increase pitch, it lowers the hook (risking an inflight, hook slap or ramp strike).  If you reduce pitch, it raises the hook, increasing the chance of missing all 4 wires (a bolter).

    Under normal daylight conditions, THE LSO WILL NOT SAY A SINGLE WORD TO THE PILOT.  (I'm an LSO)  We will instead give a flash of the cut lights on top of the meatball to let him know that he is cleared to land.  Beyond that, we don't say a word unless he approaches the margins of safety.  Also, we do not use the lights on the nose gear for angle of attack, but instead look directly at the pitch attitude of the airplane.  If his indexers are stuck or inoperative, we must be able to tell him his speed via radio.

    Let's see... what else.  If you miss the three wire, it is not a bolter.  IF YOU MISS ALL FOUR WIRES, IT IS A BOLTER.

    The hook is not designed to break before the wire... It's not designed to break at all.  (I have personally witnessed several in-flight engagements.) However, if you do have a damaged hook (hook slap of the round down or hook won't come down/stay down), YOU ARE NOT SCREWED.  We have something called a barricade (maybe you've heard of it).  If you are out of divert range, we rig the barricade which is like a net that catches the entire airplane and brings it to a stop (usually with little or no damage to the aircraft).

    PLEASE DON'T POST ANYMORE ON THIS TOPIC UNTIL YOU DO AT LEAST A LITTLE RESEARCH.  I happen to be a Navy pilot and LSO with over 400 traps.

     


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