SRVL / bolter /
NoHoverStop,
we've conversed before on good terms, hope that may continue.
I presume all this talk of JBD's is the conventional U.S.Navy ' C ' version.
I suspect more than one Harrier pilot has played the throttle / nozzles on deck to avoid disaster ( Jerry Pook's description of as an RAF pilot unused to deck handling, having to reverse between parked rows of aircraft made my hair stand on end ) but the best description, naturallly, came from John Farley.
When asked by the late Raymond Baxter -commentator & ex-Spitfire pilot - what were his hairiest moments, John very modestly - compared to some of the things he did - related that during a sales push at the Spanish Navy, he challenged the captain of the small Spanish carrier 'Dedalo' " try to stop me landing on " !
This was in the Bay of Biscay - the Captain, up to the challenge, stopped engines, put her beam on to the sea, then made smoke.
J.F. put the aircraft down without much trouble, but found the deck lashing crews were not too keen to rush up and secure the aircraft down - as he said, " I thougt I'd done my bit " !
He ended up playing the nozzles fore & aft just to keep on deck as the ship rolled, and gather he didn't appreciate it much ( anything like a Hornet etc, even if the ship could handle it, would have been over the side long before then ).
So that's why I'm asking if the F-35B could handle similar conditions...
Modern Elmo,
The parked aircraft on deck & 'big volleyball net' / barrier has been tried extensively, my father's WWII photo albums of Seafires & Hellcats is a tiny illustration of such a systems' 'merits'.
DZ
Last edited by Double Zero; 23rd Dec 2008 at 15:23.