Sorry, must correct you there ICBM,
They will be Naval Aviators who fly from the carriers of whatever cloth. To be just 'aviators' will not be enough and will not achieve the level of OC required to get the taxpayer its money’s worth!
This is the next challenge! To get through to the skulls of those of a certain persuasion, that you cannot do Maritime Aviation, part time. It will not work. Whoever flies off these platforms will need to spend a significant amount of time onboard and I will tell you why:
It will not be about just making a few visual approaches to the deck and then disembarking to the nearest hotel.
The first stage, will be familiarity with the deck.
The next, the whole procedure for preparing for departure on a crowded platform, including operating with rotary platforms and other jets, all within metres of yours, requiring strict adherence to procedures. (with a worked up ship's crew)
Then there will be practicing the launch, not in the benign environment of a dummy deck but on a slightly slick, pitching and rolling deck, with different weapon and fuel loads and different wind speeds.
Once airborne, there will be the whole issue of flying circuits to a moving airfield, where the runway often changes direction, sometimes without warning.
Visual approaches
Radar assisted approaches
Precision approaches
Practice missed approaches and short pattern circuits
Landing on a slightly slick, pitching and rolling deck, RVL and VL.
Parking the aircraft as directed, then off to the debrief.
Learning where things are on the ship...Survival Equipment, Engineering..Flight planning...Operations..plus all the domestic stuff like the laundry..Aircrew feeder etc.
Then get up and do it all again and again, then:
Do it again without the benefit of a diversion whilst mid Atlantic.
Then do it all again with weapons. Fly to an objective, carry out the task and then...once you have finally found the ship, land on it with marginal fuel and high landing weight, onto a slick, pitching and rolling deck without the benefit of a diversion.
Do it again and again until both you and the ship are operationally capable of operating anywhere in the world. By that time, it will probably be time to move to your next job.
You cannot do maritime Aviation part time. It you try to do so, you will fail in your task and at worst, someone will die from an accident.
Things that can go wrong:
Run out of fuel trying to find the ship.
Run out of fuel flying to a contact you thought was the ship
Land and then slide of the deck
Take off..engine failure and then ditch.
Nearly Fly into a rock/cliff/island that you did not realise was there
Pop out of cloud at 180 or so feet and not be able to see the ship. Be told ‘look right 1 mile’ and have to hover the distance to land on...without diversion.
Operate in a restricted environment such as a fjord with 3000' cliffs all around
Operate from a frozen deck in arctic waters
Operate from a deck of 50 degrees heat with heavy fuel and weapon load.
Operate from a deck in 70 kt winds, reduced to 40 kts by the ship steaming downwind with an aft facing landing
I could go on...all the above are actual events that have happened. All of the events were not fatal due to a combination of luck, skill of 'maritime aviators' and teamwork between the ship and pilot. This is just a taste of the hazards. Yes you get these ashore as well but, the marine environment is different in that you could be flying off Scotland one night, then wake up and find you are in unfamiliar Norwegian waters the next, without the time to acclimatise to the local weather or geography. It is an unforgiving place and to operate successfully, the whole capability, F35, Ship, deck handlers, Ops, ATC, warfare, Engineering, Weapon supply, etc all have to be at the top of their game. Then and only then will there be time to pop off to somewhere hot to conduct a bit of Defence Diplomacy.
Last edited by Widger; 22nd Jun 2012 at 11:19.