How to land on an aircraft carrier ?
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How to land on an aircraft carrier ?
Hello everybody,
following a discussion with a fellow pilot, I was wondering if any of you think if it would be possible to land a small SEP airplane, for example a C172 on a (military) aircraft carrier.
If you check the length (+- 300m) in combination with a speed of 30kts and a little headwind, I would say this shouldn't be a problem, even without grappling hook. However, it's a ship that goes up and down, so wouldn't the probability of bouncing be very high ?
And on a totally unrelated note: is there a location somewhere where you could train/learn/do this as a civilian ?
Kind regards,
Digits
following a discussion with a fellow pilot, I was wondering if any of you think if it would be possible to land a small SEP airplane, for example a C172 on a (military) aircraft carrier.
If you check the length (+- 300m) in combination with a speed of 30kts and a little headwind, I would say this shouldn't be a problem, even without grappling hook. However, it's a ship that goes up and down, so wouldn't the probability of bouncing be very high ?
And on a totally unrelated note: is there a location somewhere where you could train/learn/do this as a civilian ?
Kind regards,
Digits
Dont worry, bose and guppy will be along shortly and will gladly tell you how they've done it in various aircraft ranging from Sopwith Camels to the venerable F14 Tomcat...
P.s or you could take a flying holiday in San Diego, call up So Cal Approach and ask for some approaches onto the USS Midway or the other carriers of the Pacific fleet moored in the bay!
P.s or you could take a flying holiday in San Diego, call up So Cal Approach and ask for some approaches onto the USS Midway or the other carriers of the Pacific fleet moored in the bay!
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With the speed of an aircraft carrier and the sort of windspeeds you can expect at sea the problem would not be landing..................it would be stopping the aircraft being blown off the deck.
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30 knots over the deck sounds like it might just blow a C172 off of the carrier once the aircraft had lost its forward energy. I seem to remember a humorous article in a flying mag where the author – a GA pilot - was offered a tour of a carrier and a go in the flight sim they trained their pilots on. He got his aircraft up off the deck flew a circuit and landed OK but had forgotten to put the brakes on so he got blown off of the back of the ship.
I must admit a fly in onto a carrier sounds a bit of hoot. I can imagine quite a few people would want to get that one into their log books if it can be done. It would prob make a great way to get people in for some safety training about integration of recreational GA and military flying as well building relationships with the community.
I must admit a fly in onto a carrier sounds a bit of hoot. I can imagine quite a few people would want to get that one into their log books if it can be done. It would prob make a great way to get people in for some safety training about integration of recreational GA and military flying as well building relationships with the community.
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Thank you all for your comments soo far.
Why do I want to do it ? Let me use a famous quote here: "If you have to ask why, you'll never understand"
Anyway, since there are companies in the USA that let you simulate air to air combat with some laser tag equipment, I didn't think it would be so farfetched that there would be companies that could let you land on an aircraft carrier. So please, keep replying and bouncing of ideas
Why do I want to do it ? Let me use a famous quote here: "If you have to ask why, you'll never understand"
Anyway, since there are companies in the USA that let you simulate air to air combat with some laser tag equipment, I didn't think it would be so farfetched that there would be companies that could let you land on an aircraft carrier. So please, keep replying and bouncing of ideas
Last edited by digits_; 27th Sep 2010 at 18:14.
Found this on UK Microlight and Paramotor records
If a flexwing can do it, with the turbulence of a ski jump in front of it, then a Cessna should be able to.
The same webpage mentions a powered parachute trike which took of from USS Midway in San Diego harbour and flew across the USA with the intention of landing on USS Yorktown on the East coast. The latter was cancelled due to weather and the pilot landed in a carpark instead.
There was also a South Vietnamese pilot who landed his Cessna Bird Dog with his wife and five
children on board, on a US carrier (also Midway) off Vietnam. The pilot had allegedly never seen a carrier before...
1989, Flight from HMS Illustrious
Pilot: Dave Garrison (GBR)
Aircraft: Pegasus Q 462.
First (and perhaps only?) takeoff and landing by a microlight on an aircraft carrier, in the Atlantic ocean, some one hundred miles off Florida, USA.
Pilot: Dave Garrison (GBR)
Aircraft: Pegasus Q 462.
First (and perhaps only?) takeoff and landing by a microlight on an aircraft carrier, in the Atlantic ocean, some one hundred miles off Florida, USA.
The same webpage mentions a powered parachute trike which took of from USS Midway in San Diego harbour and flew across the USA with the intention of landing on USS Yorktown on the East coast. The latter was cancelled due to weather and the pilot landed in a carpark instead.
There was also a South Vietnamese pilot who landed his Cessna Bird Dog with his wife and five
children on board, on a US carrier (also Midway) off Vietnam. The pilot had allegedly never seen a carrier before...
There's an old microlighting video called "The Dream" which has got some good footage of those flexwing landings on Illustrious.
I think that they must have had absolutely still conditions - if you read the literature on ship landings, the turbulence within the burble (technical term for wake over the deck) would just blat most smaller aeroplanes out of the way - even helicopters regularly struggle.
G
I think that they must have had absolutely still conditions - if you read the literature on ship landings, the turbulence within the burble (technical term for wake over the deck) would just blat most smaller aeroplanes out of the way - even helicopters regularly struggle.
G
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I think that they must have had absolutely still conditions - if you read the literature on ship landings, the turbulence within the burble (technical term for wake over the deck) would just blat most smaller aeroplanes out of the way - even helicopters regularly struggle.
Did it as a passenger in a C150 in Pensacola Harbor [sic] in 1986, as a guest of the local flying club, who in turn were invited by the US Navy (possibly the Marines? It was a while ago).
Still wind, with the ship moored, and each of the four civilian aircraft had to be lowered onto the hangar deck before the next could land.
We were given the escorted tour and dinner in the Officer's Mess, then one-by-one raised to the main deck for individual take-off.
I'm led to believe that this was one of the last occasions.
Still wind, with the ship moored, and each of the four civilian aircraft had to be lowered onto the hangar deck before the next could land.
We were given the escorted tour and dinner in the Officer's Mess, then one-by-one raised to the main deck for individual take-off.
I'm led to believe that this was one of the last occasions.
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Check 2:35 for a light aircraft landing on a carrier - desperate times, obviously. The sight of a Chinny being pushed of the deck hurts me badly!
I didn't think it would be so farfetched that there would be companies that could let you land on an aircraft carrier.
TT (with a handful of carrier landings to my name albeit in helos).
A quick google shows very little in the public domain I'm afraid, but this paper give a reasonable introduction to the problem without too much maths.
G
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to quote your original statement, assuming the ship steams at 30kts and has a slight headwind (lets say 10kts) then you could easily approach at 70 kts and have a "deck speed" of 30 kts. This would give you speed in hand to deal with the turbulence and more than enough stopping distance. That said with a 300 meter deck to aim at then you could land a 172 on it at anchor with no wind assuming you were light and landed nice and early. Just not too early mind!
I never get Prune, someone asks a simple question out of curiosity and gets told of for it. Keep asking 'Pal'!
I never get Prune, someone asks a simple question out of curiosity and gets told of for it. Keep asking 'Pal'!