New Navy FC software taking fun out of being Naval pilot?

http://www.air-attack.com/news/article/4634

"When I was a kid, we had to land the plane ourselves!"

Of course, I'm not a navy pilot so I'm not sure what their thoughts are on carrier landings...I assume it's a bragging right

 

I'm guessing there is a lot of satisfaction in being able to land a plane on the deck of an aircraft carrier, much like mastering any skill. I'm also guessing the fun is not necessarily a word used to describe the carrier landing process.

A few years ago I was part of a crew that was going into some very small airfields in Africa, one was well below the minimum size required even for assault landings and required some waivers to fly into. It was a very interesting place to go to/see but I will happily take a nice boring ILS any day.

 

I've never personally been involved in one of those but are those the type where you are in reverse right before touchdown? That sounds like fun.

GT

 

No, my understanding is that some commercial type jets can do that immediately before touchdown and the C-17 has a ultra high speed descent maneuver like that but we cannot. Very bad things happen.

One of the guys in the office was in an incident where the props got put in reverse while flying and everyone was pretty sure they were gonna die but they managed to recover.

 

I have spoken with quite a few older aviators from the 50's and 60's. A lot of the USN aviators of the time, complained about the hydraulic cats and the rain. Of course, the rain is still an issue, when bringing the airplane back to the boat.

Another issue, was the spool-up time, for the gen 1 and gen 2 jets.





Unfortunately, for the big watch and silk scarf enthusiasts; the computer will only play, an even larger role in the future.

 

BTW, the Navy does not have "pilots."

Dale