Closest I'll ever come to landing on a boat

Fearless Tower

Fearless Tower

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Fearless Tower
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As a 42 year old Surface Warfare Officer, I figure today was about as close as I'll ever get to a carrier landing. A friend is in the XO/CO pipeline for an E-2 squadron and was able to get me into the E-2C full motion sim today.

Let's just say it was indeed challenging.

After an initial takeoff and a few minutes of getting a feel for the airplane followed by normal landing at Oceana it was off to the boat. I actually got a successful trap on my first approach. They set me up for a typical straight in instrument approach which wasn't too bad. Then I tried the daytime visual pattern - that was not so easy. Turning base to final while descending out of 450' I was having a heck of a time getting stabilized and had to wave off on both approaches. I think if I had another 30 minutes or so to get a better feel for the airplane I probably could have done it, but time was limited. We also did a few engine failures including failure of the prop to feather. With the prop feathered, it handles like any other twin. With the 8-bladed scimitar prop, if you can't get it feather, you are coming down! I actually managed to pull off a successful landing, but let's just say that nursing the base to final turn at around 180' AGL, I had run out of any room for error.

Overall it was a fun experience. I thought I handled the airplane on land pretty well. On the ship.....well, I suppose that's why the pilots get the big bonuses!

Now, back to the Baron I go....
 
Dear FT:

You suck.

Sincerely,

PoA
:D

P.S. How does that big radome affect lift and drag?
 
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nddons said:
Dear FT:

You suck.
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Actually I did. Trying to do the day VFR pattern was humbling.

nddons said:
P.S. How does that big radome affect lift and drag?
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Hard to say - I wasn't trying any x-wind stuff. Overall it handles pretty well. There are 4 vertical stabilizers. Roll rate was heavy/slow. Handled a lot more like a Cherokee 6 than my Baron. You are constantly adjusting trim.
 
Years ago, I got to fly the EA-6B Prowler sim at NAS Whidbey. My XO heard that I was a private pilot and as a reward for some command milestone I had a hand in, he gave me a time slot in the sim that he couldn't immediately fill for one reason or another.

I didn't do a carrier trap. But, I did buzz the downtown Seattle shoreline. And, in addition to some really sorry landing attempts, I got to try my hand at a stall-spin scenario (quite a hairy experience in a prowler). If I remember I lost something like 10,000' in what seemed like a couple of seconds. And, in trying to recover, I snapped it into a spin in the opposite direction.
 
Mine was in the SA227. Back in the mid 80's at FlightSafety we were flying the SA227 simulator. Instructor would set us up on an approach and when we broke out there was an aircraft carrier in front of us. No hook, so we hit the deck and bolter.
 
20-ish years as a Shoe? Gutsiest move I ever saw, man . . .

Cat
Spru-can MPA turned Hornet Driver, turned retired SAHD RV-6a driver.
No offense to Nauga, king of the signature line.
 
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Cool. Always like the E-2. Strange looking aircraft.

I did the F-18 sim twice. Didn't get to land in the boat though. Just did a bunch of acro and got ourselves a case of motion sickness.:D

Done a bunch of deck landings in the H-60 sim. When you get bored of doing IAPs you start doing crap you probably won't get to do in real life like acro and deck landings. Just have to make sure crash override is on. :D
 
I have done development, acceptance testing, flight test buildup, and training on a bunch of tactical trainers (OFTs, WSTs, PTTs, and one tired old NCLT). Suffice it to say I've got more time in more different sims than I care to remember. Most of it 3rd shift, it feels like. :rolleyes:

With deference to Fearless, every new one still seems pretty cool. :D

Nauga,
and another night on the shaker table
 
As a US tax payer, I cannot condone this blatant abuse of government of a asset.

As a human being, I can say, Way to go!!! :thumbsup:;)

I hear the word "simulator" and think of the Frasca 142 which makes me want to run screaming from the room, slash my wrists and throw myself off a bridge, but those fancy full motion deals sound like a big ol' video game on steroids. Bet you had a blast!
 
Nice, sounds like it was a good time. I remember being pretty hammered at tailhook a number of years ago and hopping into the E-2 sim they brought out (I guess it must have been an E-2D sales piece or something). Could barely even get the thing off the ground, much less land on the boat. Never did figure out the throttles/prop controls.

Cat, didn't realize you were a Hornet guy as well. Nice!
 
I would love to get a peek into the D ... my last year in E-2s was the new off the line C ... ok, I take that back, my actual last year was back into the B again with VAW-88 :)
 
35 AoA said:
Nice, sounds like it was a good time. I remember being pretty hammered at tailhook a number of years ago and hopping into the E-2 sim they brought out (I guess it must have been an E-2D sales piece or something). Could barely even get the thing off the ground, much less land on the boat. Never did figure out the throttles/prop controls.

Cat, didn't realize you were a Hornet guy as well. Nice!
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In 1991? Too soon. :rofl:
 
:drool: :drool: :drool:

Wow, lucky you!

Years ago, I was visiting an unnamed customer in the defense line of work at an undisclosed location and knowing that they had a full-motion sim on premises, I brought several $100 bills with me for .... um ... well, it's illegal to bribe .... so let's say those were for "education" purposes. :) Never got anywhere close to their cool toys, though. :(
 
Fearless Tower said:
Over the years, I worked for a couple of 06 naval aviators who had the 'Not at Tailhook' t-shirt.

Amazing how many careers were jacked up by that event.
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Not to mention all the sexual harassment class crap that came out of it. I was in the Marines in 92 and the fallout affected all of us. I was thinking, man, I really need periodic lectures on how to treat a woman? We're Marines, of course we're gentlemen. :D
 
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