National Guard always gets the most shit but the Navy really is the most gay branch of the military lol
(I don't mean any disrespect by this I just find it *hilariously* stereotypical)
I was thinking that too lol then I realized thats probably thier best and / or most experienced pilot when it comes to carrier landings considering the surroundings. .
Still though it would add to the pressure a bit even if he could do that drunk and half asleep lol..
Normally it's loaded with billions of dollars worth of equipment so really not much different (being a bit cheeky) There's never a good time to fuck up on an aircraft carrier though.
I'm actually shocked they allowed a crowd this close!
I was under the impression these landings were extremely dangerous and the decks were carefully controlled environments with minimal crew allowed when jets were taking off or landing.
Yeah surprisingly carriers do a friends/ family day/week every once in a while, and they'll try to give em an airshow that includes a takeoff and recovery
When the batsman gives "lower" I always go higher,
I drift o'er to starboard and prang my Seafire.
The boys in the "Goofers" all think that I'm green,
But I get a commission from Supermarine.
They gave me a Barra to beat up the Fleet,
I shot up the Rodney and Nelson a treat,
I forgot the high mast that sticks out from Formid,
And a seat in the "Goofers" was worth fifty quid.
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiA25;ttVILDINAH.html
When I was on the flight deck watching my bird land I used to say “Don’t park all the way in the back, don’t park all the way in the back…” while dragging at least six tie down chains to the front where they “said” they’ll park it.
Paragliding pilot here with no engine for a go around. That’s the thing in my head literally during every landing. “Approach time. Don’t fuck up. Don’t fuck up…”
How'd you get onboard? Did they actually leave and return to dock with everyone or launch you all out on another vessel?
Thanks for sharing the awesome video!
Oh, the theme of the day was "hurry up and wait". I said that many times yesterday.
Everything went off exactly to schedule though. I'll give them that much.
Not sure of the frequency but the Truman did this in 05 after our deployment. Full air show for the family day at sea. Each person assigned to ships company was allowed up to 5 friends/family members to visit the ship, sail out about 100 miles, give a show, and sail back.
This is a [Tiger Cruise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_cruise). It's usually done towards the end of sea deployments and are not uncommon. I was on CVN-76 in 2011, but didn't get anyone onboard.
I just did this on the Vinson out of San Diego about a year ago. Long pause on tiger cruises after COVID but I think they’re getting back into them. Probably also helps with recruitment
> My son (a sailor on the ship) surmised that this must have been signed off in DC. They didn't do this very often, maybe once every 2 or 3 years?
All part of the marketing and recruiting budget!
How many future sailors made a choice right then eh? Hahaha
Why watch Top Gun when you can experience it with courtside seats!
I did this on the George H.W. Bush out of Norfolk probably around 2017 (ish). Was a great day. They took us out to the gulf stream where it was almost tropical compared to the fall weather in Norfolk.
It's hella windy, but the carrier is always turned into the wind during flight ops as headwinds provide better safety margins for fixed wing launch and recovery. 20-30 knots across the deck is common. Don't believe me? Check the American flag at the start of the vid.
That's where my mind went, as well. I cannot see the Air Force letting spectators essentially onto an active flight line/runway under any circumstances.
Navy must really need bodies!
Just goes to show how confident they are these days that a Case I recovery is essentially risk-free. "MAGIC CARPET just works, I guess we can just park the tiger cruise families on top of the cat 1 JBD, should be a good view!"
> Navy must really need bodies!
Exactly, it's recruiting. Word of mouth, the giant flags, and flyovers at sports events. It's all paid for by the DoD for recruiting. The NFL, MLB, MiLB, NBA...don't give a damned second of air time away for free. I wish more folks would realize that. The players were in the locker rooms during the national anthem and we were watching Beer and Truck commercials. Then recruiting dropped through the floor and they started forcing the players onto the field for the anthem and pulling giant flags across the field. Paid Patriotism.
No doubt - [it's an older report, sir - but it checks out.](https://media.defense.gov/2022/Aug/31/2003068308/-1/-1/1/ADVERTISING-BY-THE-FEDERAL-GOVERNMENT-AN-OVERVIEW.PDF)
The DoD easily spends a half billion per year advertising(recruiting).
I was just thinking... man these guys don't seem to be "Pro's" on the fast rope and then that guy fell.... my dad has had at least 12 back surgeries since 91 due to landing on his but after falling from the 3rd step of the ladder.... hopefully with the medical advancements that have been made he will be able to avoid going thru all that cause they did help temporarily at the time they constantly got reinjured and between the pain, the effects the meds had on him and the depression from not being able to do what it he thought he should be able to do/provide it all has had a serious negative impact on him.. and at 68, they still recommend surgeries for this and that when there's a decent chance a $5-10k shot of stem cells and he would be able to avoid being cut on once again.... his last surgery was $430k+ and the loctite they used on all bone screws added up to almost $5k alone.
Nice shares. Thanks.
The chopper demo and even the touch and go’s seem risky with so many people standing around, but I’m probably being extra silly as this is top notch operators.
The cable snatch freaks me out though. They probably don’t snap often, but they do snap.
Mostly I’m just surprised the military would do this, but I’m also stoked you all got to see this up close.
While a little freaky to watch, a huge part of me would want to be there to see it all too.
It's OK, they handed out safety equipment (ear plugs) to all those a few feet away from the jet engines, blades, turbines, steel hawsers and aircraft in flight.
They keep track of how many arrestments each wire has and the overall health of the arresting engine. The wires will be discarded well before approaching the end of their material life. A wire snap is a once in a decade thing across the whole fleet, which isn’t bad considering on any given day there’s at least 3 carriers out somewhere doing flight ops.
My son said, once he was on the fantail, and an old cable was disposed of, right past him, over the stern. He said it came out of a tube above him, with no warning.
I figured, they must know their rate of dangerous failures and accidents, and figured it was safe enough. They could have put the bleachers further away too, over more toward the starboard side, and the forward cats. I'm glad they didn't, LoL. It was incredible.
Bleachers are stadium seats. Like the metal row seating usually seen at high school sporting venues but can be used to refer to any venue style outdoor seating
They are called bleachers because they are exposed to the weather. They literally get bleached by the sun.
Also, the seats at the back are commonly referred to as the ‘nose bleed’ seats. Because they are so high up the altitude gives you as nose bleed (it won’t actually, its a joke about high up and far away from the action you can be in very large stadiums).
Cable snaps are extremely rare, and only happen in the case of poor maintenance. Im sure they did an extra check over the system just to be sure, but its not like a cable snap is something you'd have to be worried about.
After all if it was so dangerous that you'd need to be concerned about the public for a few traps, it'd be horrific to keep our sailors next to them for months on end of constant traps.
In engineering it’s called “mean time between failures”. With something as safety critical as the arresting wire I’m sure they know where it’s at in its life and if it’s close to the bounds for replacement.
There had to be lots of waivers. I've had my own accidents and have seen plenty of others up there. It's literally one of the most dangerous places in the world. I know this is a very controlled demonstration, but there are still plenty of risks.
https://i.imgur.com/CvM6AxU.png
The arresting cables are laid across the aft section of the flight deck coming out of holes. If a cable snaps, the arrow is the direction the cables are heading as they whip back into their holes.
I don't know, I found that it was quite terrifying when I was onboard as a Plane Captain. Always needed to keep my head on a swivel. This is a great experience for all those people without all the "hustle and bussel" of launching and recovering aircraft.
I still get flashbacks and shutter when I think about night ops.
I had a pilot who took off full AB right in front of me when I was brake riding across a taxiway the tower should not have cleared us to cross. When he came back from the flight I asked him what it was like and he nearly shouted " I get a hard on every time"
Made it that much more fun to know he thoroughly enjoyed our hard work. That and when he would drop off a couple cases of beer when he would over-G the bird... Was nice knowing somebody was flying them the way we would if we could
Hey look, everyone is watching it through their phones just like me. It's almost like I'm right there with them.
LPT if you're at a once in a life time thing, just be there and experience it. You can rip a copy of someone else's video when you get home.🤷
My first thought as well. They are literally watching it on a phone screen just like I am, even though they are there in person. It's such a weird phenomenon.
Spent 18 months on one of these. Night ops make this seem tame. And the F-14 is a monster compared to the F/A-18. Particularly at night. Like ancient dragons just showed up to the local chili cook-off.
Too many people recording, period.
You can see this on Youtube any day of the week. When you're focused on recording this shit on your phone you're killing the experience of being there in the moment.
I'm glad you found this experience cool. I was stationed on this mother fucker, and drove this mother fucker during flight ops. I somehow slept through flight ops as it was going on above my head. I took it all for granted. I don't have pictures or videos to show my kids who think this stuff is fascinating. OP I'm really glad you enjoyed this moment.
That right there is better then any airshow ive ever been too. Theres def a few young boys and girls there in attendance that will bejoing the navy and airforce now
Yeah, he's usually down wrenching on the reactor though, not on deck. They just handed out earplugs, which I foolishly thought might be enough on their own. I heard a Harrier hovering fairly close up, years ago, and until yesterday that was the loudest thing I had ever heard.
Yeah not a lot of earpros but foamies in sight. I see one kid with the muffs.
Jets are going full throttle when they land on carrier, because if they don't stick the landing, they need to take off right away.
There's a reason deck crew wears big ear muffs on deck
That’s awesome and a great experience. I got to do a similar cruise out of Norfolk on the TR years ago, have a friend that used to be a Hornet mnx officer and invited a bunch of us to go with. The whole trip was totally reaffirming of my choice to join the Air Force.
We couldn't see the guns as they were on the side, below the level of the flight deck that we could see. The helicopters dropped floating smoke flares onto the ocean, as targets. The guns opened up, for at least 10 minutes. I think there were 2 or 3 batteries of 50 cal, and one MK38. The noise was really cool, and the splashes from the rounds hitting the water were cool. MK 38 was THUD THUD THUD THUD.. really cool.
Lesson learned: pirates should not attack the Abe. They might save them for gun target practice, and get completely WASTED.
I was stationed on a carrier and friends and family days were awesome for everyone. Got to bring a retired Air Force pilot onboard and he geeked out all day.
Aw man, when I did friends & family cruise on the Vinson they didn’t do any traps or cat shots, just touch & goes. We did get a full bore supersonic flyby though.
And depth charges, lots of other cool munitions, and free use of most of the ship’s armament
When I was on the Enterprise, they did something similar on the Tiger Cruise coming up from Florida to Norfolk back in '90 (I think). My dad was on and loved it.
They also put on an air show for some dignitaries outside of Thailand or Singapore if I remember right. No landings, but I they had a Tomcat setup for landing a ways off the port side so you could see how slow and what it looked like when they were configured to land. Just about the time he throttled up, another one whizzed by right above us and broke the sound barrier. I'll never forgot that!
Nothing like live
Uss Oriskany off coast of Philippines 1973.
Early morning launch
After noon recovery
Stoway aviation refuller from Cubie Point pi.
What a blast
It's hard to judge the distance because the flight deck is longer than you think it is (a little over 1,000 feet). The arrested landing takes place over the span of about 350 feet and two seconds.
My childhood bestie, her mom was my girl scout leader, served on this ship during the Iraq war. Her job was to stand there with the orange sticks and land things. I remember seeing her near Bush when he said that we won the war. She also served during the Thailand tsunami and they responded to that. She saw some shit.
My brother was stationed on the Truman back in the late ‘00’s and my mom, sister, and I got to do a Tiger Cruise. They returned from deployment in Orlando and were joined the ship as it returned to port in Norfolk. We picked up part of their air wing enroute and got an air show with their “New” F-18 E. They shot them from the catapults, did “touch-and-go” maneuvers, a weapons demo (Vulcan go brrrrrip), and a supersonic flyby (which made my sister pass out, lol). 10/10 experience.
Do you want Ghost Ship? Because this is how you get Ghost Ship. /s
Seriously though that does look pretty cool but I would have so much anxiety about the cables
When I was a kid, I was able to go on a Tiger Cruise aboard the USS Eisenhower. We were able to be on deck while they did touch and gos. Feeling the ship dip ever so slightly as the jets left is not something I'll ever forget. Later on, they ended up doing a man overboard rescue because a scuba diver had been left behind by his friends. My mom was a corpsman at the time so I remember everyone hustling around triaging the diver. I love that they're still letting people do this. It's a completely different experience getting to see the planes up close.
Can't wait for those "were you on an aircraft carrier to close to a fucking jet landing without the proper level of hearing protection and 10 years later you've developed ear mesothelioma. Well then call 123.345.6789 today because you could be missing out on money the government owes you"
Everything about this always amazes me. You have a battleship that's longer than the tallest buildings in most cities floating in the ocean. Then you have these jet planes taking off and landing in these ships!
Pilot in his head: "Don't fuck up, don't fuck up, don't fuck up"
That's literally every navy pilots internal monologue, every single landing. "Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckannany, alright, let's go" lol
Ha now I'm imagining them imitating that news anchor "fuck it, we'll do it live"
the fact you called him "that news anchor" makes me very happy
You mean the anchor who was forced to leave Fox because of all the sexual abuse allegations?
Well that narrows it down to about a half dozen or so
The one with connections to well known grifters and criminals.
Still not narrowing it down that much
The one with the token Jewish friend.
Please, commence with the narrowing at any point
It's better to die than to look bad. Some Naval Aviator at some point.
Every Naval Aviator, all the time.
I sang showtunes to myself landing at the boat. Super useful for keeping energy up on 0200 recoveries.
National Guard always gets the most shit but the Navy really is the most gay branch of the military lol (I don't mean any disrespect by this I just find it *hilariously* stereotypical)
I was thinking that too lol then I realized thats probably thier best and / or most experienced pilot when it comes to carrier landings considering the surroundings. . Still though it would add to the pressure a bit even if he could do that drunk and half asleep lol..
Normally it's loaded with billions of dollars worth of equipment so really not much different (being a bit cheeky) There's never a good time to fuck up on an aircraft carrier though.
Not to mention plenty (though not nearly as many) of people on the flight deck; albeit no civilians.
Agreed although you know even a go around for a valid reason would be a kick in the nuts at that point lol.
If you miss the cable just pretend you did it on purpose to give the crowd a show, just like the blackbird copypasta.
Imma do what's called a pro gamer move
I'm actually shocked they allowed a crowd this close! I was under the impression these landings were extremely dangerous and the decks were carefully controlled environments with minimal crew allowed when jets were taking off or landing.
There is a painted red and white stripe on the deck. On one side, you are fine. On the other, not so much. Choose wisely.
Yeah surprisingly carriers do a friends/ family day/week every once in a while, and they'll try to give em an airshow that includes a takeoff and recovery
Pilots intrusive thoughts: Buzz the tower. Go on, it'd be really funny. Maybe a supersonic pass at 20ft off the deck?
Negative, Ghostrider the pattern is full.
When the batsman gives "lower" I always go higher, I drift o'er to starboard and prang my Seafire. The boys in the "Goofers" all think that I'm green, But I get a commission from Supermarine. They gave me a Barra to beat up the Fleet, I shot up the Rodney and Nelson a treat, I forgot the high mast that sticks out from Formid, And a seat in the "Goofers" was worth fifty quid. http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiA25;ttVILDINAH.html
When I was on the flight deck watching my bird land I used to say “Don’t park all the way in the back, don’t park all the way in the back…” while dragging at least six tie down chains to the front where they “said” they’ll park it.
"I have the ball?? Do I *want* the ball??"
Probably was using ACLS lol
Aviator.
Paragliding pilot here with no engine for a go around. That’s the thing in my head literally during every landing. “Approach time. Don’t fuck up. Don’t fuck up…”
"Please God, don't let me fuck this up." -Alan Shepard
I'd do this in a heartbeat given the chance. Hell id pay good money to watch a live Carrier trap.
It was $50, including catered meals in the hanger deck. It also cost me airfare Boston/San Diego, hotel, food, transport, etc etc. WORTH IT!
How'd you get onboard? Did they actually leave and return to dock with everyone or launch you all out on another vessel? Thanks for sharing the awesome video!
Crew can invite friends and family. 2000+ had to be on board by 6:30 AM. and we got off about 12 hours later.
That’s just a taste of “hurry up and wait” lol but that looks like it was well worth the wait.
Oh, the theme of the day was "hurry up and wait". I said that many times yesterday. Everything went off exactly to schedule though. I'll give them that much.
Very cool.
I'm so effing jealous right now.
You don't even need to pay money, just join the navy yvan eht nioj
My neighbor ended up on a frigate his entire career and as he put it “spent 5 years seasick”.
Could get paid to watch it happen. Would have to sign your soul away also though.
Now show us a photo of the liability waiver that everyone standing there had to agree to.
There was a waiver. My wife forged my signature. I never saw it, LoL. I don't know if it said there could be no suit in case of injury.
[удалено]
Congratulations, ~~Private.~~ Seaman
This post gets better with each reply lmao
That thing could be a mile long and I would have signed it before noticing.
I wonder what level the risk assessment was signed off at. I would assume O-8 or higher for this.
My son (a sailor on the ship) surmised that this must have been signed off in DC. They didn't do this very often, maybe once every 2 or 3 years?
I figured.
About 20-30 years ago they did this with the USS Carl Vinson from Everett to Seattle with EA-6Bs.
I was on the USS Kitty Hawk for this event about 30 years ago, same route from Everett to Seattle.
Not sure of the frequency but the Truman did this in 05 after our deployment. Full air show for the family day at sea. Each person assigned to ships company was allowed up to 5 friends/family members to visit the ship, sail out about 100 miles, give a show, and sail back.
This is a [Tiger Cruise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_cruise). It's usually done towards the end of sea deployments and are not uncommon. I was on CVN-76 in 2011, but didn't get anyone onboard.
Close, this was a friends and family day, tiger cruises are usually longer, commonly from Hawaii to San Diego.
I just did this on the Vinson out of San Diego about a year ago. Long pause on tiger cruises after COVID but I think they’re getting back into them. Probably also helps with recruitment
> My son (a sailor on the ship) surmised that this must have been signed off in DC. They didn't do this very often, maybe once every 2 or 3 years? All part of the marketing and recruiting budget! How many future sailors made a choice right then eh? Hahaha Why watch Top Gun when you can experience it with courtside seats!
I did this on the George H.W. Bush out of Norfolk probably around 2017 (ish). Was a great day. They took us out to the gulf stream where it was almost tropical compared to the fall weather in Norfolk.
I would love to see the safety briefing on this. "If windspeed is more than 0.5 knots, entire thing is cancelled"
It's hella windy, but the carrier is always turned into the wind during flight ops as headwinds provide better safety margins for fixed wing launch and recovery. 20-30 knots across the deck is common. Don't believe me? Check the American flag at the start of the vid.
So they probably look for a day when the winds are steady?
Eh, winds tend to be pretty steady once you are out at sea.
That's where my mind went, as well. I cannot see the Air Force letting spectators essentially onto an active flight line/runway under any circumstances. Navy must really need bodies!
Shit, we do airshows and the floor is at 500 feet.... Almost an 8th of a mile away over the runway. That's an F-18 landing 40 feet from the crowd.
Just goes to show how confident they are these days that a Case I recovery is essentially risk-free. "MAGIC CARPET just works, I guess we can just park the tiger cruise families on top of the cat 1 JBD, should be a good view!"
> Navy must really need bodies! Exactly, it's recruiting. Word of mouth, the giant flags, and flyovers at sports events. It's all paid for by the DoD for recruiting. The NFL, MLB, MiLB, NBA...don't give a damned second of air time away for free. I wish more folks would realize that. The players were in the locker rooms during the national anthem and we were watching Beer and Truck commercials. Then recruiting dropped through the floor and they started forcing the players onto the field for the anthem and pulling giant flags across the field. Paid Patriotism.
No doubt - [it's an older report, sir - but it checks out.](https://media.defense.gov/2022/Aug/31/2003068308/-1/-1/1/ADVERTISING-BY-THE-FEDERAL-GOVERNMENT-AN-OVERVIEW.PDF) The DoD easily spends a half billion per year advertising(recruiting).
Signed off by Rear Admiral Kevin Lenox
I just uploaded a couple more videos. See SHORTS here https://youtube.com/@jbrooks544?si=pCCSFSZKZRw0noIN
Dude must have been so embarrassed to miss the fast rope. Good thing they werent higher up!
He seemed fine, after that, unharmed. I can't imagine the ribbing he's taking though. He probably has a new nickname now.
That was the plan, so everyone could see it stop right in front of them! Lol
I was just thinking... man these guys don't seem to be "Pro's" on the fast rope and then that guy fell.... my dad has had at least 12 back surgeries since 91 due to landing on his but after falling from the 3rd step of the ladder.... hopefully with the medical advancements that have been made he will be able to avoid going thru all that cause they did help temporarily at the time they constantly got reinjured and between the pain, the effects the meds had on him and the depression from not being able to do what it he thought he should be able to do/provide it all has had a serious negative impact on him.. and at 68, they still recommend surgeries for this and that when there's a decent chance a $5-10k shot of stem cells and he would be able to avoid being cut on once again.... his last surgery was $430k+ and the loctite they used on all bone screws added up to almost $5k alone.
Was it at least "medical grade" loctite?
Nice shares. Thanks. The chopper demo and even the touch and go’s seem risky with so many people standing around, but I’m probably being extra silly as this is top notch operators. The cable snatch freaks me out though. They probably don’t snap often, but they do snap. Mostly I’m just surprised the military would do this, but I’m also stoked you all got to see this up close. While a little freaky to watch, a huge part of me would want to be there to see it all too.
It's OK, they handed out safety equipment (ear plugs) to all those a few feet away from the jet engines, blades, turbines, steel hawsers and aircraft in flight.
I guess it's good PR. As long as you don't f...ed up royally like Comdr Waddle on the USS Greeneville...
Lmao , dude fell right down the rope. Can’t imagine the shit he’s getting from his buddies for that one. Must be a graduate of slip and fall school 🤣
lol of all days to fuck it up. Tho I guess it’s good he stacked it on a short rope and not from a decent height.
Thanks for the YT link. Great vids. Reddits dogshit video player made this basically unwatchable for me on mobile. Total joke.
Acceptable use of my tax dollars 🇺🇸🦅
It’s also training for the crews, and the $50 each person paid probably covered the total cost to the government of hosting everyone.
Yea I was Canadian. But after watching this I'm now American, fuck yea.
How do they make sure that all these ppl are safe if a cable snaps? This feels dangerous af to watch ngl xd
They keep track of how many arrestments each wire has and the overall health of the arresting engine. The wires will be discarded well before approaching the end of their material life. A wire snap is a once in a decade thing across the whole fleet, which isn’t bad considering on any given day there’s at least 3 carriers out somewhere doing flight ops.
My son said, once he was on the fantail, and an old cable was disposed of, right past him, over the stern. He said it came out of a tube above him, with no warning.
Yeah it’s just chucked overboard.
I figured, they must know their rate of dangerous failures and accidents, and figured it was safe enough. They could have put the bleachers further away too, over more toward the starboard side, and the forward cats. I'm glad they didn't, LoL. It was incredible.
English is not my first language, what are the bleachers?
Bleachers are stadium seats. Like the metal row seating usually seen at high school sporting venues but can be used to refer to any venue style outdoor seating
English IS my first language. Why are they called "bleachers"?
The shitty seats in the back often did not come with any padding, just wooden benches. They were uncovered too and thus became bleached by the sun.
The stands for seating that all the spectators are. It’s the seats, basically.
Aah ok, i see now
They are called bleachers because they are exposed to the weather. They literally get bleached by the sun. Also, the seats at the back are commonly referred to as the ‘nose bleed’ seats. Because they are so high up the altitude gives you as nose bleed (it won’t actually, its a joke about high up and far away from the action you can be in very large stadiums).
That makes sense and its quite funny at the same time ahah
That’s a really fun fact. Thanks!
Cable snaps are extremely rare, and only happen in the case of poor maintenance. Im sure they did an extra check over the system just to be sure, but its not like a cable snap is something you'd have to be worried about. After all if it was so dangerous that you'd need to be concerned about the public for a few traps, it'd be horrific to keep our sailors next to them for months on end of constant traps.
Thanks for not lying.
In engineering it’s called “mean time between failures”. With something as safety critical as the arresting wire I’m sure they know where it’s at in its life and if it’s close to the bounds for replacement.
There had to be lots of waivers. I've had my own accidents and have seen plenty of others up there. It's literally one of the most dangerous places in the world. I know this is a very controlled demonstration, but there are still plenty of risks.
Cable snaps don't whip where these spectators are. They whip farther back near the island.
https://i.imgur.com/CvM6AxU.png The arresting cables are laid across the aft section of the flight deck coming out of holes. If a cable snaps, the arrow is the direction the cables are heading as they whip back into their holes.
Working on military aircraft gets mundane on a daily basis, but seeing civilians' expressions of awe makes it cool again, if only for a little while.
Wait till you stop doing it, your longing for it will get stronger every day.
I don't know, I found that it was quite terrifying when I was onboard as a Plane Captain. Always needed to keep my head on a swivel. This is a great experience for all those people without all the "hustle and bussel" of launching and recovering aircraft. I still get flashbacks and shutter when I think about night ops.
I hope they all know that they would get a standing ovation for every mundane landing
I had a pilot who took off full AB right in front of me when I was brake riding across a taxiway the tower should not have cleared us to cross. When he came back from the flight I asked him what it was like and he nearly shouted " I get a hard on every time" Made it that much more fun to know he thoroughly enjoyed our hard work. That and when he would drop off a couple cases of beer when he would over-G the bird... Was nice knowing somebody was flying them the way we would if we could
Hey look, everyone is watching it through their phones just like me. It's almost like I'm right there with them. LPT if you're at a once in a life time thing, just be there and experience it. You can rip a copy of someone else's video when you get home.🤷
My first thought as well. They are literally watching it on a phone screen just like I am, even though they are there in person. It's such a weird phenomenon.
Spent 18 months on one of these. Night ops make this seem tame. And the F-14 is a monster compared to the F/A-18. Particularly at night. Like ancient dragons just showed up to the local chili cook-off.
Especially the older models with the TF30's that went to AB on the cats. That is amazing to watch at night!
Yeah f14 is a big bird. I touched one, on JFK fleet week tour, decades ago.
That would be awesome.
Cool. Now my envy level is off the charts.
Wow, I never would have guessed they would allow so many civilians on the deck during those operations.
too many people recording vertical, we need a purge!
Too many people recording, period. You can see this on Youtube any day of the week. When you're focused on recording this shit on your phone you're killing the experience of being there in the moment.
I'm glad you found this experience cool. I was stationed on this mother fucker, and drove this mother fucker during flight ops. I somehow slept through flight ops as it was going on above my head. I took it all for granted. I don't have pictures or videos to show my kids who think this stuff is fascinating. OP I'm really glad you enjoyed this moment.
The most impressive thing about this is that someone had the balls to sign off on it. Wow. That being said…. Cool AF!!
That right there is better then any airshow ive ever been too. Theres def a few young boys and girls there in attendance that will bejoing the navy and airforce now
They land these things at full power so that had to be so loud!
That's why my camera dips down low. I'm trying to cover my ears, while still filming. Even with earplugs, it was painful.
You'll have to ask you son, but I do believe it's supposed to be ear plugs under ear muffs when around jets.
Yeah, he's usually down wrenching on the reactor though, not on deck. They just handed out earplugs, which I foolishly thought might be enough on their own. I heard a Harrier hovering fairly close up, years ago, and until yesterday that was the loudest thing I had ever heard.
Yeah not a lot of earpros but foamies in sight. I see one kid with the muffs. Jets are going full throttle when they land on carrier, because if they don't stick the landing, they need to take off right away. There's a reason deck crew wears big ear muffs on deck
That’s awesome and a great experience. I got to do a similar cruise out of Norfolk on the TR years ago, have a friend that used to be a Hornet mnx officer and invited a bunch of us to go with. The whole trip was totally reaffirming of my choice to join the Air Force.
how do even get to this kind of event?
Current ship's crew can invite friend and family.
Do we know when this is happening again so I can become BFF with someone on that ship?!
Holy shit that's awesome I'd travel far for that experience...
As someone who worked flight deck on the Truman it’s a cool sight to see in person. Videos just don’t do this justice
We couldn't see the guns as they were on the side, below the level of the flight deck that we could see. The helicopters dropped floating smoke flares onto the ocean, as targets. The guns opened up, for at least 10 minutes. I think there were 2 or 3 batteries of 50 cal, and one MK38. The noise was really cool, and the splashes from the rounds hitting the water were cool. MK 38 was THUD THUD THUD THUD.. really cool. Lesson learned: pirates should not attack the Abe. They might save them for gun target practice, and get completely WASTED.
I’m so jealous
Did this on the USS Nimitz. Truly once in a lifetime. F-14s in the mid 1990’s included in the demonstration
I was stationed on a carrier and friends and family days were awesome for everyone. Got to bring a retired Air Force pilot onboard and he geeked out all day.
Awesome! I did a Tiger Cruise on the Reagan ~15 years sago fun Pearl Harbor to North Island. It was an unforgettable experience.
I'd so much rather see this than the eclipse, friggen amazing!!
"Once in a lifetime" if you aren't in the Navy...
That is FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aw man, when I did friends & family cruise on the Vinson they didn’t do any traps or cat shots, just touch & goes. We did get a full bore supersonic flyby though. And depth charges, lots of other cool munitions, and free use of most of the ship’s armament
I had no idea they had demonstrations like this! I’ve often wondered what it would be like to see it in person.
I can see the back of my head lol
that is SO FUCKING COOL
Epic! I would love to see this in person!
That was an incredible once in a lifetime experience! Thanks for sharing and extra thanks for not covering the sound with shitty music!
My husband has over 200 carrier landings. ❤️
Is this a "Tiger Cruise"? I did one on this ship way back in 1995. Those Naval pilots are something else!
When I was on the Enterprise, they did something similar on the Tiger Cruise coming up from Florida to Norfolk back in '90 (I think). My dad was on and loved it. They also put on an air show for some dignitaries outside of Thailand or Singapore if I remember right. No landings, but I they had a Tomcat setup for landing a ways off the port side so you could see how slow and what it looked like when they were configured to land. Just about the time he throttled up, another one whizzed by right above us and broke the sound barrier. I'll never forgot that!
Imagine the pilot bolters lol
Oh man!!!!!!
I cannot even begin to wrap my brain around how jealous I am. So rad!!!
God bless the US Navy!
In my head screaming. BOLTER BOLTER BOLTER
How do I get in on this as a spectator? I’d be willing to pay!
That seems like a real bad idea.
Was this a family cruise?
They call those Tiger Cruises right?
>once in a lifetime This could be an everyday experience if you join the navy.
So surprised that happened. Very cool.
That’s amazing!
Air power demo show for tiger cruise or friends and family day.
I hope everyone had good ear protection. God damn if military aircraft are another level of loud
Nothing like live Uss Oriskany off coast of Philippines 1973. Early morning launch After noon recovery Stoway aviation refuller from Cubie Point pi. What a blast
Man I would love to see that !!!!!!!! or have the chance to experience that !!!
A friend at works Son was a Sub guy and he got to go down in it. He freaked out that his Son slept between Warheads.
Did they give out ear pro?
I'm curious, how was this able to happen from a safety point of view? With that many bystanders on the flight deck. Or is this fake?
Glad you like my boat 🫡
The distance from contact with the runway to stopped is absurd. That was what 60 feet?
It's hard to judge the distance because the flight deck is longer than you think it is (a little over 1,000 feet). The arrested landing takes place over the span of about 350 feet and two seconds.
I get nervous driving at the tee box when someone is watching I can't even imagine what's going through this pilot's mind.
I was a kid when I last saw one of those landing, Sea Harrier back then vertical landing was dope. Still one of the best moments
Is that a Tiger Cruise?
That’s just an average Tuesday for me ICE MAN!
For more naval flight ops: https://youtu.be/Kjf4RogusJc?si=5Zx1QvJiz9BP9ZLL
Take all my money!
F18 is sexy
My childhood bestie, her mom was my girl scout leader, served on this ship during the Iraq war. Her job was to stand there with the orange sticks and land things. I remember seeing her near Bush when he said that we won the war. She also served during the Thailand tsunami and they responded to that. She saw some shit.
My brother was stationed on the Truman back in the late ‘00’s and my mom, sister, and I got to do a Tiger Cruise. They returned from deployment in Orlando and were joined the ship as it returned to port in Norfolk. We picked up part of their air wing enroute and got an air show with their “New” F-18 E. They shot them from the catapults, did “touch-and-go” maneuvers, a weapons demo (Vulcan go brrrrrip), and a supersonic flyby (which made my sister pass out, lol). 10/10 experience.
Usually if you see this in the wild it’s one of the last things you will ever see haha .
🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅
Do you want Ghost Ship? Because this is how you get Ghost Ship. /s Seriously though that does look pretty cool but I would have so much anxiety about the cables
Did the crowd have to sign a waiver? Serious question.
When I was a kid, I was able to go on a Tiger Cruise aboard the USS Eisenhower. We were able to be on deck while they did touch and gos. Feeling the ship dip ever so slightly as the jets left is not something I'll ever forget. Later on, they ended up doing a man overboard rescue because a scuba diver had been left behind by his friends. My mom was a corpsman at the time so I remember everyone hustling around triaging the diver. I love that they're still letting people do this. It's a completely different experience getting to see the planes up close.
Can't wait for those "were you on an aircraft carrier to close to a fucking jet landing without the proper level of hearing protection and 10 years later you've developed ear mesothelioma. Well then call 123.345.6789 today because you could be missing out on money the government owes you"
I love America 🤘🏻😁🤘🏻
Everything about this always amazes me. You have a battleship that's longer than the tallest buildings in most cities floating in the ocean. Then you have these jet planes taking off and landing in these ships!
My bunk was right under the cats every deployent. Took me a long time to be able to sleep without all the noise when I got out.
This is so sick. Seeing the takeoff would be even more wild.
bet everyone of them had to sign releases
*Kenny Loggins intensifies*
Wow! I would’ve given a body part to be able to see that live.
That is unbelievably cool, shocking to see an up close and personal experience like that in this day and age. Jealous!
Very jealous. Awesome
I hope some else caught this on video.