New Zealand Girl Reacts to US NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER CONTROLLED CHAOS 

for the better part of my sixteen years in the Navy, this is where I went to work every day! Best job I ever hated!!!!

So to explain how the aircraft can take off and land with so little space: to take off, the plane is strapped to a steam-powered catapult. That's what produces the white vapor left behind after every launch. This catapult launches the plane to takeoff speed in very little space. Currently, the US Navy is starting to replace the steam catapults with electromagnetic ones. For landing, the plane is equipped with a tail hook - that's the boom you saw at the rear of the plane when they were landing. The hook catches one of four crossdeck wires that absorbs the rest of the plane's momentum. If they miss a cable, the planes are still going full throttle so they can simply take off again and get a do-over. That's why carriers have that large angle portion to their flight deck.

Aircraft carriers are basically floating cities

I spent a little over 25 years in the Navy and am a plankowner on the USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72. We commissioned her on Veteran's Day, 1989 and she is still serving the nation today.

Seriously one of the most dangerous places in the world to work. Each color has a different job. Go Navy, Beat Army!

I’ve spent time on a helicopter carrier as well as an aircraft carrier. By far my best time was on an aircraft carrier. Seeing it on film just doesn’t do it justice when you are actually up on the flight deck and feeling the energy the aircraft put out once they are ready for launch. Gives you goosebumps.

Controlled chaos ? You ought to do the whole show, take off and landing at the same time ! And they do it at night too !

I spent my first enlistment on a carrier (retired 20 years Navy) The landings actually controlled crashes

As a former ABE who worked on Cats 1 & 2 on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Everyday we went to work we put our lives on the line. On the flight deck one wrong move from either of group could be a bad for the other! Great reaction. Thank you!

Landing on a carrier from the start (around 1917-1918) has always been one of the hardest things a flyer an do. A landing is a controlled crash landing and fatal accidents during landing are fact of life. Pilots have said they feel more stress when they land than when they are in combat.

The deck of an aircraft carrier is the most dangerous 4 acres of real estate on the planet.....

When the aircraft take off from the catapult they go from 0 - 200kmh in under 3 seconds. Same thing when landing using the arresting cable, but around 200 - 0kmh obviously. And when they land, they have to push the engines to full throttle in case they miss the cable so they have enough power to take off and try again. Also, the catapults are steam powered. Each different shirt color belongs to a different type of crew member task. They each have a specific task to perform related to prepping each plane for take off or landing. Like the 2 yellow shirts standing next to the planes taking off, their shirts say 'shooter'. Right before take off they check each crew member to ensure that everything is as it should be, and let the pilots know everything is good to go, then they give the hand signal to 'shoot' the plane from the catapult. There's lots of videos from aircraft carrier crews that you can watch to see what everyone is doing and what's going on when and where.

During general quarters is when it gets really exciting. The launch an aircraft every11 seconds from 3 catapults

One of the really cool things is that the hand signals are standardized across NATO, so a US pilot would be able to land on a French or British carrier with complete confidence that he would know what they were directing him (or her) to do, and vice-versa.

They don't need much space to take off because they are being flung off the deck with a steam catapult. That's the steam you see behind the aircraft. They get dragged to a stop on landing by a cable that catches a hook on the back of the aircraft, the cables are attached to system that uses hydraulic pressure to absorb the energy of the aircraft.

Steam catapult. Automated take off. You can see the pilot hanging on to the oh shit bars. When they land it’s at full throttle just in case they miss the cable.

They use a steam powered catapult attached to the nose gear to launch from the carrier. They use a tail hook to snag 1 of 3 cables across the landing zone to slow down so quick. FUN FACT: once they touch down on a landing attempt they go full throttle whether they are successful or not until they verify that they have in fact snagged a cable, if they missed the cable they immediately take off and go around for another attempt. Thanks for the reaction. Greetings from Texas :)

The US Navy still has an unofficial award, "The Brown Pants" award for pilots in training doing their first night landings. Think of landing a F18E supersonic fighter on a pitching deck at night and the "landing field is about the size of a football field.

I was attached to an Admiral's staff in the late 80's. My office was right below the flight deck under one of the forward JBDs (jet blast deflectors). You can see them behind the planes when they launch. The JBDs would literally deflect upward the thrust from the planes (otherwise anything behind them would go flying). When the F-14's throttled up it shook the entire office. We could tell what kind of plane was being launched just by the sound of the JBDs lol.

I love how you smiled when a plane took off or landed. Most of the time it was subtle but I thought that was cool.

My cousin was a Marine Corps pilot, he said the scariest thing he ever did was land on a carrier in the middle of the night.

The US Armed Forces are a different world that requires a different breed of cat to live in it.

Courtney, i am glad that you gave this video a chance, when i was in the U.S. Navy, i worked the flight decks of 3 different aircraft carriers, and yes during the day, the flight deck is one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet, at night, it is by far the most dangerous place on the planet, the jets can suck you in from the front, usually killing you, and blow you down the deck or overboard or cook you from behind, you have to move around the aircraft while they are moving around the deck, so they can also run over you squishing you flat, the steam that you see comes from the catapults, the aircraft except for the helicopters are literally flung off the ship to go flying, and when they return, the tail hook has to catch one of the 4 arresting gear cables that are across the landing area, if they don't they take off again to make another try, WHILE ALREADY LOW ON FUEL, the environment is incredibly industrial in nature, and aside from the things that i have already mentioned, there are literally thousands of other things that can kill you without you ever knowing about it.

I lived on 2 carriers myself. Each color of shirt mean something. For example, purple shirts are called grapes and are fuels. Yellow shirts are directors and blue shirts are handlers, green are techs and red are ordinance and fire crew. For a big boat, the compartments are tight. You get used to jet blast as well.

Courtney, I was in the Navy for 11 years, and I made six cruises on the USS America (CVA-66) off the coast of Vietnam 1973, USS Forrestal (CVA-59) in the Mediterranean 1975, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65, the ship pictured in this video) 1976, and the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) three cruises (1st - 1979-80 Western Pacific/Indiana Ocean during the Iran Hostage crises), 2nd - 1981-82 Western Pacific/Indiana Ocean), 3rd - 1983 Around the World cruise). I worked on the EA-6B Prowler aircraft for my first three cruises, then the A-6E/KA-6D Intruder for my last three cruises. You are right, the flight deck is the most dangerous area of the aircraft carrier and if you don't you head moving (what we called "rubber necking") you could be blown over the side of the ship by jet exhaust, or literally sucked up into a jet intake or run through a propeller, or jet exhaust could pick you up off the deck and come crashing down on another plane. There are times when you get so tired you can't think straight and there were times I would fall asleep on top of an aircraft not going anywhere. We called those "combat naps). You can search youtube to find out about the airplanes I worked on or learn about the older aircraft carriers, like the ones I sailed on. Thanks for watching that video. I hope you will take advantage of other US Navy videos.

4:28 is the homeless guy trying to clean your front window when you just washed your maro

The take offs look exhilarating, but the landings would scare the shit out of me.

Courtney, I'm not sure that you have a grasp of how huge a Super Carrier is. The latest one, USS Gerald R Ford is 337.1 meters long, and the width of the Flight Deck (where all of the aircraft are taking off and landing) is 76.8 meters. Oh, and on the Ford Class of carriers, you won't see all that steam anymore. They now launch planes with an electromagnetic catapult instead of a steam piston.

The pilots have a dangerous job, no argument there, but the landing and arresting gear people have it just as dangerous. They have to worry about not only keeping their balance on a rocking ship, but also be hyper aware of where everything is. My father worked as a 1st class petty officer on board that very same carrier. He was in landing and arresting gear. He told me stories of some of the awful things that happened to the people that weren't paying attention, and to those that were. He told me of how when attaching the jet to the catapult like the man at 2:22 the arm of catapult snapped and hit him in the head, he was unconscious for a few seconds then picked himself up and went back to work, even though he was bleeding. Other men weren't't so lucky that he knew, one got blown clear when the jet took off, another got chopped to bits in the intake of jet getting ready for take off, others simply blown over board from the wind and rough seas, it wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't so high up from the water, and the fact that its only some of the time that those sailors get found again... It's a dangerous job on the flight deck, and it was even worse back in the time when the pilots didn't have a catapult to launch them off, the pilots back them had to do it themselves, both take off and landing. If you missed and you were low on fuel? Oh well...

This must be pretty old footage (depending on how one defines "old") - Enterprise (CVN-65) was deactivated at the end of 2012.

They can take off and land in such a short space because they're assisted both ways. When they take off, they're actually hurled forward by a steam-powered catapult in the deck. That white mist trailing the plane after it launches is the steam from the catapult. When they land, there's a hook that hangs down from the underside of the plane in the rear that catches on a cable that's strung across the deck. If you look closely when one lands, you can see the cable on the deck. This is what causes the plane to come to a stop so abruptly.

I served in an A-6 aircraft squadron at NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach from 87-90 and we were on the very last 6 month cruise of the USS Coral Sea aircraft carrier; also the workup cruises for the USS Abraham Lincoln and then the USS Theodore Roosevelt for a 6 month cruise. I've got to say that it was a lot of fun on our shore times at our Naval Base; but the biggest thrill of my life doing night time flight operations launching and recovering jets on the flight deck. The synchronicity was amazing teamwork and everyone had each others back. A lot of polls back then said that it was the most dangerous jobs in the world and I'm here to agree. You can't hear anyone speak so we had to rely only on flashlights and hand signals. I've always been a thrill seeker but now days I yawn at what people find thrilling. LOL If I could do it again; I WOULD!!! It's not for everyone. We had several men in our squadron who refused the flight deck. It is to be feared. This film didn't show night operations . It also didn't show the 5 minutes of red lights in the rooms below to prepare your eyes for pitch black. No city lights nearby. Only dim colored flashlights so the enemy can't see. What a ride! Rough seas; I Love em! Sometimes we warmed ourselves in the jet exhaust in the North Atlantic. I remember most the teamwork; the high fives and the great meals in the galley when we got off. 12 hour shifts/7 days a week but if you wore my white checkered jersey, you can cut in line at the galley and the food was AWESOME!!! :)

That hook you can see on the back of the aircraft as they're coming in to land has to pick up a tether cable that causes the plane to stop quickly upon landing. If they miss, they have to accelerate quickly, take off again and go around for another try. On normal takeoff, there is a catapult system that instantly accelerates the aircraft to takeoff speed and the pilot has to immediately take control at the end of the "runway" to achieve a successful takeoff. I really don't know if I find your sports reactions or your military reactions more entertaining. I definitely enjoy both, as sports and military history/traditions are two subjects I am very fascinated with.

Congrats on 20k!

notice the rainbow colors they wear. red means these badass dudes handling armaments , green are mechanic and engineering, purple do the fueling shit, white usually take cares inspection or qc, brown are the aircraft captain ( those pilots are borrowing the aircraft from them ! note that), the yellows are the flight directors.

Courtney, I don't know if you realize it, but the planes are hooked at their nose (front) wheel to a catapult built into the deck that pulls the plane down the deck very fast to help it launch... kind of like a rock in a slingshot. That's why they accelerate so quickly; these are driven by steam, which is all the white stuff you see wisping out of the deck...some of the steam leaks out through the slot in the deck. When the planes land, there is a hook hanging down in the center rear of the plane (you can see it in some of these landing shots) that grabs one of several "arrester" cables (a heavy cable strung sideways across the deck that has big shock absorbers on the ends). That cable slows the plane down right now. If you could hear the sound on this video, you would hear the pilot go to full throttle on his jet engines just as he is about to grab the cable. That way, if he misses all of the cables, he still has power available to fly the plane off the deck and come around for another try. When he lands, you'll see the plane roll to a stop, then settle down after a second or so as the pilot cuts off the power. These planes don't take off any faster or land any shorter than other planes; they have a little help to do those things on such a short runway.

Controlled Chaos and Deadly. The Ship featured, the USS Enterprise was one of 5 Carriers I served on during my 21 year US Naval Career. In January 1988, we lost a Shipmate on the Flight Deck of the Enterprise. The Shipmate was near one of those Spinning Propellers when a gust of wind caught him off guard and he was blown into the Propeller. Working the Flight Deck of a Aircraft Carrier is considered one, if not the most dangerous job in the world...... and if I could do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.

The typical carrier air wing is, give, or, take, 80 aircraft. That is larger than the air forces of some smaller countries. The reason they don't need much space for take-offs, and, landings is due to the fact that the planes are, literally, catapulted off the bow by a steam powered catapult, and, carrier aircraft have a tail-hook that catches a cable, and, pulls them from around 100 - 150 knots to 0 knots in a couple seconds.

Your 'they don't need much space to take off' comment was timed perfectly - you said it just as they were connecting the link on the nose gear of the plane to the catapult shuttle. Look closely and you'll see the bar dropping into the hook on the part of the catapult that runs along the track in the deck to pull the plane along and get it up to speed very quickly. As for landing, it's kind of a controlled crash with the plane brought to a quick stop by a hook on its tail grabbing one of the arresting cables that runs across the deck. As the plane touches down, the pilot goes to full throttle to enable takeoff just in case the hook doesn't engage the cable (called a bolter); once he's sure it's caught the throttle is closed again.

To help the planes take off, there is a large steam-powered piston that they charge with steam . Then they connect the plane to it and then release the steam when the pilot is given the approval to take off. They use to say that the steam catapult could launch a Volkswagen beetle a half a mile from one of those steam catapults. The tricky part is that there are many different planes they can launch off an aircraft carrier. All these planes are different weights so they have to adjust the amount of steam applied depending on which aircraft they are launching. Too much steam can cause damage to the aircraft, too little steam can not provide enough speed and the plane will sink below the bow of the ship and crash into the ocean.

Thanks for the info I don’t go to movies much but couldn’t believe I missed it just saw the trailer for Top Gun 2, thanks again

I Loved working the Flight Deck, the best time of my life while in the Navy. I was a Troubleshooter/Final Checker.

The ship is the aircraft carrier Enterprise, CVN 65. CVN stands for C (carrier) V (aircraft) N (nuclear powered). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_%28CVN-65%29

My pops was on the USS Nassu (now decommissioned) back in the early 90s and can remember visiting the ship once for a family day thing. I remember being in awe to seeing how massive it was, it was truly amazing.

I worked up there for about 10 of my 20 years in the Navy. Started out as a blue shirt and worked my way thru yellow to green (maintenance). Best job I ever had. Never a dull moment. BTW USS Enterprise CVN 65 was my last ship, I retired off her.

The reason they start and stop so fast is because their acceleration and deceleration is assisted by systems on the ship designed for just that purpose. You'll notice on landing, there's a tail hook that the jets deploy which catches a cable situated across the landing area. There are actually three cables, or four cables on a few of the older carriers, so that they have three (four) chances to "catch" a cable. Once the tail hook grabs the cable, the cable and associated system inside the ship will slow the plane down much more rapidly than the plane can by itself. As soon as their wheels touch the deck, the plane goes full power so that if they happened to miss all the cables they can just accelerate and take back off to try again. The same goes for taking off. The ship is equipped with steam catapults, or electromagnetic on the new ship, that the plane is hooked up to before it's "launched" into the air. These catapults accelerate the plane much quicker than the plane can do on its own. You'll notice after each launch a white cloud coming off the deck of the carrier. That's the steam used to push the plane forward. The new carrier wont have any white clouds since it's all electricity and magnets instead of a steam piston, similar to many roller coasters. If the catapult fails mid launch, the plane will likely not have enough speed to fly and wont be able to stop before it gets to the end of the deck. In those cases, the plane is lost to the sea and hopefully the pilot(s) is able to eject before it hits the water. It is vary rare for catapults to fail, but not so rare for the landing arresting system to fail. In fact, one of the most dangerous things that can happen on the deck of an aircraft carrier is for one of those cables to break. The cable is thick and when it whips back around it can take a leg right off a person...or worse. The cables are replaced at regular intervals, whether it looks like they need to be replaced or not, but that still doesn't prevent failures from happening. You'll also notice all the crewmen attending to the planes wear different colored vests. Each color designates a different job or responsibility that crew member has. For instance, purple vests are responsible for fueling the planes. Red vests are responsible for arming the planes with weapons, and damage control.

The aircraft are launched into the air by a catapult on the flight deck. A US carrier has four. Two in the very front and two on the left side at the middle of the carrier. The catapults are powered by steam. That's the white smoke you see rising up from the flight deck. The yellow shirt you see directing the aircraft is actually getting the pilot to line up to the catapult. Then a bar is lowered from the nose gear to connect to a shuttle (I think that's what its called, carrier guys please correct me if I'm wrong) which is connected to the catapult piston itself. After the deck crew gets the aircraft hooked up and in a real combat mission the ordie guys arm the aircraft's weapons by pulling the arming pins and the safety guys are sure all is clear everybody gives a thumbs up. When the pilot sees the deck crew thumbs up they look to the "shooter in the bubble" and salutes. The "bubble" is a little green house like control room on the flightdeck between the two forward catapults. They control the catapults and after the pilot salutes the shooter does their quick safety check and "shoots" the aircraft off the carrier. The twin engine turboprop plane you were wondering about is a C-2 Greyhound. Its a cargo passenger aircraft. Its offical name is Carrier Onboard Delivery which the Navy folks call the COD. There's another version called the E-2 Hawkeye which has a large dish on top the aircraft. Its a radar which is used to track and control aircraft and surface ships. By the way I actually served in the US Air Force !995-1999 but my hobby is military stuff.

I was a final checker/ flight deck troubleshooter (Airframes) on the USS Independence for 2 years. It was a lot of fun! Excitement is standing 15 feet from an A6 at full throttle.

There's a thing called a hook, on all Navy aircraft, that the pilot deploys just before landing. There are 4 big cables, labeled 1,2,3,4. When he lands, he tries to get his aircraft hook to grab one of these cables to help him stop. The cables are connected to large dampeners, like springs, which pull the plane to a stop after grabbing a cable with his hook.

What you can't se in the landing is the tow cable that grabs the plane to slow it as it lands. The dark deck color hides the cable. It's amazing.

In case you didn't know, there's four "arresting" cables crossing the deck the aircraft need to hook onto to stop (brakes can't stop), if they miss hooking a cable (preferably the 3rd) it's called a "Bolter"

Understand there is a catapult system that helps launch the aircraft and a cable arrest system to help stop when they land, however when the aircraft land the pilot must use a hook mounted under the tail (the tailhook) to catch or snag one of four cables located at the beginning of the landing strip.

Courtney this video was so amazing

I'm a C-2A Greyhound aircrewman. The Greyhound is the twin propeller aircraft #44. It's a carrier-based cargo plane. Understand that this video is extremely mild. Being on deck during cyclic flight operations is the most intense sensory experience I have ever felt. It really is a beautiful example of what humanity can accomplish when people work as a team.

I worked on the flight deck for 5 of my 8 year in the the navy I was a green shirt and a brown shirt and I aways worked the night shift for our squadron I was on the USS Guam And USS Guadalcanal. They where helicopter carriers or amphibious assault ships it was so much fun and a adrenaline rush with helicopter landing and taking off and rotor blades going by only a foot above your head. If I was young I’d do it again

I was a Navy Brat until dad retired in 1988. I was born on a air base and spent the first 17 years my life around jets. In the early 80s we lived in Hawaii on Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station. Jets flying around 24/7. Back then the cordless phone was pretty new. On more than one occasion I'd go to call a friend and would hear pilot chatter through the phone. Also, when you have 4 or 5 jets in formation fly over your house it tends to scare the crap out of your friends who didnt live on base. Good times... good times!!

The takeoffs and landings are both "assisted", on takeoff they use a steam powered catapult system to get the help the jets get up to speed. And then the landings are assisted by hooks that hang off the back of the planes and they drag the deck and catch a steel cable that lays across the deck and catch themselves before they slide off the other side.

Beautiful video! I served onboard this ship from October 1987 to January 1991! Proud Enterprise sailor!

the deck has built in gas catapults that the plane's exhausts use to build high thrust and thus cut back on the extended runway requirements upon take off and on landing an arresting wire catches the rear fusilage hooks to arrest the planes progression in 5 seconds..its quite a complex mechanism and requires much attention to detail and control

Most of the planes are kept on the hanger deck, which is one deck below the main deck where the planes land and take off. They also have full maintenance facilities on that hanger deck to fix any problem that an aircraft might develop.

THE CARRIER HAS A SERIES of cables stretched across the deck at prescribed intervals, you'll notice as the plane approaches you'll see the "arresting hook" hanging down to hopefully hook one of the "arresting" cables that give some so it's not too abrupt of a stop. That's the simple explanation how they can land on such a small deck. Navy pilots are very skillful aviators.

Should show somebody getting cut in half when the cable breaks, or the traditional someone gets sucked into a intake.

As others have mentioned, the takeoff is via a steam catapult that launches the fighters from zero to their takeoff speed of 285 kph in, as you can see, not much space. During the landing the plane drops a tail hook that catches one of four cables strung across the deck. The plane goes from flying speed to zero in about the same distance as the takeoff catapult. As the plane touches down the pilot jams the throttles forward to full afterburner, because if his (or her!) hook misses the last cable then they need to regain enough speed to fly for a go-around. As chaotic as the whole thing looks, their greatest concern is safety. In 1967, during the Vietnam War, they relaxed one too many safety procedures aboard the Forrestal and a live missile was fired from one plane into another plane, which happened to be a fully armed A4 attack bomber. It is believed that the missile struck the A4 flown by John McCain, who later was a US senator and presidential candidate. He a couple other pilots managed to escape the resulting fire and explosion as bombs cooked off, but two of the A4 pilots were never seen again, along with 132 other crewmen killed.

My late Father served on the USS Enterprise CVN-65 back in the mid 60's. He told me most of the deaths and injuries came on the flight deck. Cables snapping,fires or Pilots over or under shooting the ships runway. And sadly there were several suicides from guys jumping overboard. He took some amazing pictures aboard the ship while visiting every free port in the world at the time. Dad died from a Asbestos lung Cancer, most likely from his time in the Navy.

1:05 Yeah, it is crazy. Aircraft carriers in general are huge, basically floating cities. They're powered by nuclear reactors and can potentially remain at sea for over a decade without ever having to dock if necessary. They have desalination facilities to turn seawater into fresh water and these are one of the reasons why we send these things to help with disaster relief. They can provide a practically unlimited supply of clean, fresh water any time they want. We have over a dozen in active service, plus ten more of a new class on the way. More than every other country that has aircraft carriers combined. The scale of these things is simply mind boggling.

Great choice Courtney, seeing Big E is always a joy to see. She was a GREAT ship. The First and Fastest. Her top end speed is still classified, but don't doubt for a moment that's it's not well over 50 knots. Also, just picture the shit really hitting the fan, needing aircraft in the air post haste. What they're doing there increases in speed 2 or 3 times without mishap. And just for fun, imagine the night ops. Doing this at night, knowing where you need to be, when you need to be there, without your eyes as a crutch...not to mention landing on that pitching and rolling deck that you can't see until the last moment before touching the deck and punching the throttle in case of missing a cable. I know an A-6 Intruder pilot, flew a couple tours in Vietnam. He liked night ops better BECAUSE he couldn't see the ship, just trusted his flying, and his brothers on the the ship. Always knew that buddy of mine was a lil crazy lol.

1:44 yeah they go from about 150mph to 0 in 2 seconds. In fact, just before touch down, they go full throttle in case they miss the arresting wires so they'll have enough speed to stay in the air. It might not seem like it but when they're being shot from the catapult they're accelerating really fast. It's 0 to 160 in about 2 seconds. and you're right, Super Hornets and Legacy Hornets are some of the best looking airplanes ever made.

As a Marine helicopter mechanic, I spent most of my time on LPH's and other "gator freighters". Though being around fast movers is exhilarating, you should be around for a launch of 7 helicopters simultaneously from the deck of an LPH. Awesome to witness such strength all at once. ( that was back in 1975 ). I once got caught up in the rotor wash of a CH-53 and tossed in the safety net. Another 2 feet and I would have been in the drink.

Did a Westpac, Norpac and several dets. on the USS Constellation CV-64! Loved working the flight deck via HS-8 and enjoyed being at sea. Great place to work for adrenaline junkies.

Courtney, the ship uses a catapult system to launch the planes. They accelerate so fast, the pilots eyeballs flatten a little bit. Some pilots even have retina problem later because of that.

One of the most amazing things I know of when it comes to every day stuff done by our great military men and women. The timing to get the hook to grab while knowing you need to boost back up if you miss must be one of the most stressful things I can think of. The absolute power these bad boys have to hit takeoff speed so quickly is overwhelming. One of my definite bucket list items would be to take-off and land on an aircraft carrier and I absolutely am in awe of those who do it and have done it - especially in times of battle. USA! USA! USA! USA! Kings of the skies!

Because a carrier deck during operations is such a dangerous place teamwork and everyone doing their job correctly is essential. It's the most dangerous work place in the world. I can't find it now but there used to be a video on here of an arrester cable breaking during a trap. One guy#s situational awareness was such that he jumped the cable as it lashed past him then again as it whiplashed back from behind him. I think he anticipated it happening because he didn't even seem to look at the cable.That's the kind of situational awareness needed. It may look like controlled chaos but is actually a well drilled procedure. The catapult pushes an aircraft from 0-150 knots in 2 seconds and 300 feet compared with the 3-4000 feet they would use on land. The arrester gear stops them in about the same distance from about 150 knots.

Dear Courtney, if you haven't already you should see the movie Top Gun. It stars Tom Cruise as a Navy pilot of jets just like those. At minimum you should watch the last half hour. Then you will be ready if you want to watch the sequel that is coming later this year. Maybe you could watch the trailer for this years movie.

My grandfather served in the Navy on four different aircraft carriers throughout WWII and Korea. If you ever come to visit the U.S., take a trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, and you can visit one of the carriers he served on, The USS Lexington. Cheers, Courtney! You rock!

I know a retired USAF fighter and test pilot who became an astronaut. He says that night landings onto a carrier are as stressful as routine flight gets.

They stop so fast because they come in and hook onto a “rubber band” which can in very very bad days snap and it’ll send the whole flight deck running in every which way and playing jump rope with something that will kill them if it hits them anywhere important. They take off so fast because they connect to a catapult that basically throws them off the deck then they apply throttle lol

There are usually more than 11 stories or decks on a typical aircraft carrier. It can be very easy to get lost on board, especially if you are new to the ship.

My Brother served for years on that USS Enterprise.... you should also check out the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels... they are performance groups that travel around doing air shows to the public to show off both the agility of these planes and skill of the pilots.. they typically fly in groups of usually up to 5 and do stunts, rolls etc only inches apart its quite breathtaking.

There's a wonderful documentary, "Carrier: Fortress at Sea", that goes into a lot of the ins and outs of the carrier. It doesn't hurt that it happens to be filmed on the USS Carl Vinson, where I spent quality time in the navy. :D

purple shirts fuel the planes, yellow shirts direct them where to go, brown shirts are "plane captains who clean and help ready them for the next flight, white shirts are flight deck troulbeshooters, they follow the plane and what for any issues with the aircraft before it lauches, green shirts are aircraft maintenance crew. the colors matter.. As someone who spent 8 years at sea on aircraft carriers I have to say that this video in no way captures how much is actually going on. It is much busier and more dangerous that the video depicts.and carriers launch and land plane around the clock 7 days a week. that is how we maintain operational readiness. thanks for your interest!

FUN FACT: when jets land on a solid ground they let off (lower) the throttle slowing down the jet. When landing on a carrier, the pilot will actually increase the throttle but still applying the ''wing flaps'' to help slow down. The reason they do this is because........ (HINT): There is like a thick cable (forgot what it's called) that runs across the ''landing strip'' on a carrier. On the tail end of jets is a hook that is meant to latch onto the cable in order to assist in landing safely.

Thanks for sharing Courtney 👍

@6:16 It's an interesting looking airplane because its wings are folded back. When it's ready to take off the wings will extend out into normal position and it will look like a normal plane. The wings and rotors on the planes and helicopters on the aircraft carrier fold up to save space since space on the flight deck and down below in the aircraft hangar are at a premium.

They take off quickly because their being propelled to take off speed by a catapult system, attached near the front wheel. They land quickly thanks to harnessing, or arrest, cables. 4 cables crossed the deck, and the aircraft lower a hook that catches one of the wires. The pilots actually throttle up when they land, in case they miss the cable and need to take off again.

I’m a Navy guy back from the Gulf War back in 1991. Watch Pitching Deck aircraft carrier ops. They have to do all that at NIGHT....

I once read an account from a Navy pilot that said landing a plane on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean is like standing on your couch and there's a coin in the middle of your living room and you're trying to jump off the couch and touch the coin with your nose!

They are able to stop like that because the tailhook catches a cable and that cable is like the ultimate brake. Has to be reset after everytime its caught.

I wish I could remember the the title of a video that I saw of flight deck crew's dancing and doing funny stuff during the process of launching planes. My uncle was a plane mechanic during the Vietnam War, on one of the carriers, I can't remember which one. Once, a wrench was hanging out of his pocket and it hit the eject button and smacked him up into the open canopy. Someone that he knew was on the same carrier as him,but they never saw one another the whole time they were at sea.

There was once this deck crew guy on one of our carriers that was checking out a plane and got sucked into the engine and survived. His goggles got wedged in the intake fan and kept him from getting sliced and diced. The Smithsonian has a video of the event up under "This Sailor Got Sucked Inside a Fighter Jet Engine". Craziest shit I ever saw.

If you notice the hook hanging down from the back underside of the planes, that is how they stop so quickly. They hook a line to stop.

When the uss nimhtz I been on the aircraft carrier and the cag of jolly Roger skull squadron flew me in his f14d tomcat interspector fighter aircraft

Ideal landing will be a 3 wire between the 2 and 3 as the wires are numbered from 1-4 from back to front. they launch from 0-180 (295kph) in about 200 ft. That is about a 60,000 pound aircraft (27000 kilos) and yes they are beautiful.... The wires they catch with the hook are connected to a weight sled below deck.. much like a workout machine. The pilot radios his weight and they adjust the sled to counter the weight and force to stop the aircraft. They go full afterburner on contact with deck in case they bolter (miss the wire) or a wire breaks so they have enough speed to get in the air again. The landing area is about 300 x 40 feet. The deck is angled at 10 degrees left off center with the ship so they can launch and recover aircraft at the same time, so pilots line up to the right of the ship and make a left turn to intercept. The touch down area to catch a wire is 40 x 80 feet. They have little room for error.. esp going 140 mph 225(kph) Factor in that the ship is moving, night and bad weather. It's crazy really...

They have a hook that grabs a cable when they land. If they miss the first cable, there are two more. If they miss all three, they hit the throttle and take off again. Split second decisions.

See their uniforms rippling in the breeze? That ship is booming along at 35 knots INTO whatever wind there is. They do this day and night. The weather does stop them occasionally, but it takes nearly a full gale to suspend flight operation.

Working the flight deck on a carrier is one of the most dangerous jobs in the Navy. Now imagine doing it at night, in blackout conditions to avoid being seen by the enemy, and in bad weather.

There is a steam-powered catapult that launches the planes from the deck, and each one is equipped with a tail-hook that catches a cable when they land which stops the planes.

Cats youve got green lights! get em in the air! from the movie The Final Countdown.. btw i love the turbo props a perfect landing was to catch the 3rd wire of the four

Just an fyi, how they land on the ship is, if you look at the video, you will see a rod from the tail of the plane. That rodd hooks on to a tether on the platform of the ship, kind of like a bungee cord. The plane hooks on to the cord, and causes it to slow down and stop at a safe pace. :)

It's not so bad. You have 5,000 - 6,000 of your closest friends to keep you company. During landing, the ship is moving about 30 mph and the jets are moving about 135-150 mph. Add to that the ship is moving straight but the landing area is at an angle to the left of the ship's course. When the wheel touch the deck, the pilot pushes the throttle to full power in case the tailhook misses the arresting cable for some reason so the aircraft will have sufficient speed to become airborne at the end of the angle deck. This is called a "bolter." The catapult accelerates the aircraft from 0 to over 150 mph in about 2.5 seconds (jets). The large "wing" that rises from the deck behind the plane during launch is called the "jet blast deflector" (JBD). It prevents anyone behind the launching a/c from being blown off their feet by the jet blast or being burned. The JBD's are cooled by pumping seawater through them to keep them from being melted by heat from the jet afterburners. It is hard work and very dangerous. A work day is twelve hours minimum and one must concentrate and pay close attention to what is happening around them. After work, you grab a bite to eat, take a quick shower, and fall asleep. Next day repeat for the remainder of the at sea evolution.

There are more than 5,000 sailors on a typical aircraft carrier. Since an aircraft carrier is powered by a nuclear engine, they don't have to refuel for about 12 to 15 years. Their main resupply job is replacing all the food that the sailors eat, usually more than 3 meals per day every day.