Hey all. Very recently, I got the incredible opportunity to go underway on the CVN-69, and in my spare time on board I managed to take a few pictures. Since I know for a fact that we have at least one former naval aviator among us -- along with many, many other people who might be interested -- I thought that I would share some here. Hope you all enjoy! ...and yes, of course I wore a watch. What else but an indestructible diver?
@Mad Dog probably won't be able to respond as his laptop shorted out from tears and drool when he spotted his beloved SH-60 .
Nice photos you took there from vulture's row. I used to be one of the guys landing and taking off in the pointy grey jets once upon a time.
Took me on a trip down memory lane, spent 4 years on the USS Ranger (Decommisioned now) - nothing like watching flight ops at night! Thanks for sharing...
Awesome - certainly before my time but I've heard many stories from the older guys in my department about the Ranger and the Enterprise. Those ships had character, that's for sure... Also looks like we have even more Navy vets on here than I thought! Thanks fellas - @Taddyangle @sky21.
That's the reason they have so many Brownshirts/Redshirts/Purpleshirts etc, they need that many to do FOD walks.
. So it's not to vent fighter pilot air biscuits from the cockpit then? Would be interested in their function and effectivity (the true one that is).
Speedy is spot on. Environmental cooling system (ECS) exhaust ports. The Block I Super Hornet just had a flush vent. The bard stacks were added in Block II to improve cooling.
I bet it doesn't look all that big when you are screaming towards it at ~150 knots in the rain and the ship is rolling about.
And doing it at night sucks. 1/2 the lift, twice the drag. I did it for 20 years and scared the crap out of me every time.
That is an awesome pic/vid. That deck looks tiny in the vastness of the ocean in the day picture and the night vid is just plain nuts, like something out of Star Wars. CATOBAR carrier landings are just insane when you stop to think about it. Anyone who isn't a little scared doing that probably isn't sane. I have a good pal who flew the RN Sea Harrier (vertical landings of course at sea, conventional on land) so have moved in Navy and RAF circles but I have huge respect for anyone who would consider that as chosen career option.
And much respect for the guys/gals that work the flight deck. Very dangerous place when fully loaded with an entire airwing. Whenever I walked for my hop, I plotted the shortest route from the ready room to my jet. Too many things trying to kill me. And the grapes, yellow shirts, ordies, plane captains, etc... were up there 18 hours a day. BZ!