Ask A Scientist General Science Archive

name         James M.
status       educator
age          60s

Question -   Are most take-offs from aircraft carriers with the
pilot's hands off the controls and if so ..why? Similarly, are carrier
landings computer or pilot controlled?
-----------------
I have never heard of them being automated.  But maybe I just have not
heard.
I do not even know whether an automatic control would do a better or worse 
job than the human pilot,
given the present performance of aircraft and the possible extremes of 
the elements.

Jim Swenson
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Dear James,

I am not a pilot, but I worked on the propulsion plant for one of the Navy's
aircraft carriers, so I have some small knowledge about your question.

All take-offs are pilot controlled ("hands-on"), from the standpoint that
the pilot is responsible for the plane's thrust and steering controls during
take-off.  The pilot drives the plane to a catapult which connects to the
plane.  The catapult, which is powered by steam produced by the carrier's
nuclear reactors, accelerates the plane quickly in the relatively short
space along the flight deck.  When the pilot has applied full thrust from
the plane's engines, he salutes the "plane captain" on the deck who returns
the salute and kneels down and touches the deck.  That is the signal for the
catapult to be activated.  The catapult officer can adjust the power of the
catapult depending on the plane's mass, but in any event, the plane needs to
have enough airspeed to be able to fly when it reaches the front end of the
flight deck.  I suppose one could argue that the pilot, who is forced into
the back of the seat during this "catapult launch", is not really "in
control", but he/she better get control quickly once the plane leaves the
deck!!  The carrier will generally turn to steer into the wind to give even
more lift to the plane's wings during "flight operations".

Landings are also pilot controlled.  There are four large cables across the
flight deck and the plane has a tail hook that gets extended from the back
of the plane to "catch the wire".  Pilots are trained to begin accelerating
when they reach the point where the plane should catch the wire, because if
they miss the wire, the plane must have enough air speed to take off again!
The pilot gets some assistance from a visual aid on the flight deck which
assures that the plane is on the correct glide slope.  Too low and you run
into the back of the carrier; too high and you miss the wire.  Pilots call
this visual aid "the meatball" -- it is red when they are too low, green
when they are right on the correct glide slope, and yellow when they are
too high.

When the wire catches the tail hook, it spools out but begins resisting the
plane's inertia (and the accelerating engines that the pilot applies in
case he misses the wire).  A crewman on the deck will signal the pilot that
he/she has caught the wire and the pilot can begin shutting down the
lane's engines.

An experienced pilot also watches each landing from the flight deck. 
e/she is called the "Landing Signal Officer" (LSO) and if it looks like the
landing will be in anyway unsafe, the LSO signals the pilot to abort the
landing and fly around for another try.

Navy pilots must hit the carrier's flight deck hard and at a precise
location to catch the wire.  I have heard some pilots refer to these
landings as a "controlled crash".

The flight deck is an extremely dangerous place.  You have jet engine
exhaust, jet engine intake, steam powered catapults, large cables being
whipped into place for the next landing -- not to mention fuel tanks,
ammunition, missiles, and bombs!  Anyone who works on the deck is very
highly trained and gets additional "hazard duty pay".

Here is a web site with some additional information:
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/

Hopefully, this understanding about the skill and training required for
pilots to safely execute carrier take-offs and landings will give you an
appreciation for why Navy pilots prefer to be called "Naval Aviators".


Todd Clark, Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy
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