{"id":649,"date":"2010-09-28T04:00:21","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T08:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeclarksblog.wordpress.com\/?p=649"},"modified":"2010-09-28T04:00:21","modified_gmt":"2010-09-28T08:00:21","slug":"timing-is-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=649","title":{"rendered":"Timing is Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. \u00a0What they are doing is synchronizing their wristwatches with the PLAT (pilot landing aid television). \u00a0They 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.\u00a0 Looking at the digital wristwatch is much better for telling the exact<\/em> time.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cpush time\u201d if you will, and they must leave within five seconds of that precise moment.\u00a0 On leaving, they are required to set certain parameters on their jet and maintain a strict 250 knots on the way to the ship.\u00a0<\/p>\n[youtube=http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XHosTQz34eE]\n

Timing and speed and flight discipline is very important for the aerial choreography to work out perfectly.\u00a0 For there is only one minute between aircraft; when the pilot in marshal at \u201cAngels 14\u201d (14,000 feet) \u201cpushes,\u201d exactly one minute later, the pilot at Angels 15 departs marshal, flying the same profile.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is an amazing thing to watch from the deck of the ship.\u00a0 It is a sight very few civilians have had the privilege of witnessing.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

The airplanes, spaced perfectly at one minute intervals, give the deck crew about 30 seconds to get one airplane \u201cout of the wires\u201d and prepare the flight deck for the next.\u00a0 When the airplane hits and pulls the wire out the length of its travel, the pilot takes the throttle to full power.\u00a0 This is necessary in the event the hook skips over the wire or otherwise does not grab one.\u00a0 Should the airplane miss the wires, the pilot is at full power and ready for the go around, also known as a \u201cbolter.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the port side, toward the aft of the flight deck, there is a platform populated by other pilots.\u00a0 These are the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) who work very hard to keep the pilots in the planes as safe as possible while landing. \u00a0The LSOs, also known as \u201cPaddles,\u201d very closely monitor each approaching aircraft.\u00a0 If the aircraft is out of parameters for a safe landing, he will hit a switch activating the go around lights.\u00a0 He holds the switch in his hand, high above his head, ready to pull the trigger if required.<\/p>\n

In the cockpit, the pilots have one of the hardest jobs.\u00a0 They must fly instruments all the way down to about one half a mile and then transition to a visual landing.\u00a0 Many people aboard the ship monitor each pilot\u2019s approach.\u00a0 The first are the radar controllers, watching the approach on their screens.\u00a0 When the aircraft is about half a mile behind the ship, the controller will say, \u201cThree One Two, half a mile, call the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the pilot\u2019s cue.\u00a0 His response is to look up, site the meatball on the Fresnel lens, and call out, \u201cThree One Two, Hornet Ball,\u00a0five point eight.\u201d\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRoger, ball!\u201d the LSO\u2019s response.\u00a0 Now the LSO is in control of monitoring the approach for safety and the pilot is sitting in the airplane reciting the Navy pilot\u2019s mantra, \u201cMeatball, lineup, angle-of-attack.\u00a0 Meatball, lineup, angle-of-attack.\u00a0 Meatball, lineup, angle-of-attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The airplane responds smoothly to the careful and deft inputs of the pilot\u2019s hands on the stick and throttles, his feet on the rudders. \u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201con speed,\u201d the hook will grab the number three wire, the third of four from the aft end of the ship.\u00a0 In less than 300 feet of distance, the airplane will come to a screeching halt.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Yeah, this evening, Navy pilots are going to be briefing and syncing their watches for their night missions.\u00a0 I wish I were with them – but maybe not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe if I were young again…<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u00a0What they are doing is synchronizing their wristwatches with the PLAT (pilot landing aid … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8],"tags":[399,610,690,693,1436,1582,1848,1861,2263,2327,2347,2403,2511,2818,2819,2936,3286,3429,3679,3985,548,549],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-flying-2","category-life-in-general","tag-angels-15","tag-ball-call","tag-bolter","tag-bombs-on-target","tag-flight-discipline","tag-fresnel-lens","tag-holding-pattern","tag-hook-skip-bolter","tag-lso","tag-marshal","tag-meatball","tag-mission-briefs","tag-navy-pilots","tag-plat-pilot-landing-aid-television","tag-platform","tag-push-time","tag-somewhere-out-at-sea","tag-synchronizing-their-wristwatches","tag-the-flight-deck","tag-timing-is-everything","tag-out-of-the-wires","tag-paddles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}