Timing is Everything

Somewhere out at sea tonight, Navy pilots will finish up their mission briefs and then, just like in the movies, they will sync up their watches.  What they are doing is synchronizing their wristwatches with the PLAT (pilot landing aid television).  They do this because sometimes it is hard to tell which number the minute hand on the eight-day clock is pointing to in the cockpit.  Looking at the digital wristwatch is much better for telling the exact time.

This is important for many reasons. If a pilot is going out to deliver weapons, typically the bombs must be on target at a specified time, +/- 7 seconds. And then, in order to return to the ship, pilots must go into a holding pattern called “marshal,” which they must leave at a certain time, a “push time” if you will, and they must leave within five seconds of that precise moment.  On leaving, they are required to set certain parameters on their jet and maintain a strict 250 knots on the way to the ship. 

Timing and speed and flight discipline is very important for the aerial choreography to work out perfectly.  For there is only one minute between aircraft; when the pilot in marshal at “Angels 14” (14,000 feet) “pushes,” exactly one minute later, the pilot at Angels 15 departs marshal, flying the same profile.  

It is an amazing thing to watch from the deck of the ship.  It is a sight very few civilians have had the privilege of witnessing.  Looking aft on a clear night, you can see a string of navigation lights and speed indexers in a perfect line approaching from the dark.

The airplanes, spaced perfectly at one minute intervals, give the deck crew about 30 seconds to get one airplane “out of the wires” and prepare the flight deck for the next.  When the airplane hits and pulls the wire out the length of its travel, the pilot takes the throttle to full power.  This is necessary in the event the hook skips over the wire or otherwise does not grab one.  Should the airplane miss the wires, the pilot is at full power and ready for the go around, also known as a “bolter.”

On the port side, toward the aft of the flight deck, there is a platform populated by other pilots.  These are the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) who work very hard to keep the pilots in the planes as safe as possible while landing.  The LSOs, also known as “Paddles,” very closely monitor each approaching aircraft.  If the aircraft is out of parameters for a safe landing, he will hit a switch activating the go around lights.  He holds the switch in his hand, high above his head, ready to pull the trigger if required.

In the cockpit, the pilots have one of the hardest jobs.  They must fly instruments all the way down to about one half a mile and then transition to a visual landing.  Many people aboard the ship monitor each pilot’s approach.  The first are the radar controllers, watching the approach on their screens.  When the aircraft is about half a mile behind the ship, the controller will say, “Three One Two, half a mile, call the ball.”

That’s the pilot’s cue.  His response is to look up, site the meatball on the Fresnel lens, and call out, “Three One Two, Hornet Ball, five point eight.”  This is the transfer of control to the LSOs coupled with telling the world how much gas remains, in this case, five thousand eight hundred pounds.   

“Roger, ball!” the LSO’s response.  Now the LSO is in control of monitoring the approach for safety and the pilot is sitting in the airplane reciting the Navy pilot’s mantra, “Meatball, lineup, angle-of-attack.  Meatball, lineup, angle-of-attack.  Meatball, lineup, angle-of-attack.”

The airplane responds smoothly to the careful and deft inputs of the pilot’s hands on the stick and throttles, his feet on the rudders.  The pilot controls altitude by the throttles, the speed by the angle-of-attack, and the line up with quick and perfect movements of stick and rudder.

As the aircraft approaches, if the pilot keeps the meatball perfectly centered, the aircraft lined up with the centerline of the landing area, and the aircraft “on speed,” the hook will grab the number three wire, the third of four from the aft end of the ship.  In less than 300 feet of distance, the airplane will come to a screeching halt.  From faster than 134 knots (152 mph), the wires will snag the airplane out of the sky more rapidly than the catapult shot that slung her into flight.

Yeah, this evening, Navy pilots are going to be briefing and syncing their watches for their night missions.  I wish I were with them – but maybe not. 

Maybe if I were young again…

-30-

© 2010 J. Clark

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