Pressing the FIRE Button! - Catapult Deckedge Operator 

The Fire button was pressed. It may not of seemed like it was, but the Deckedge operator did exactly was instructed.

+Phil Dyer what year did you out launch the JFK? and how do you know? former ABE USS JFK

We got some of our best trained ship's company people from Rosie and the Ageless Coral Sea. Well done! You should be PROUD and all us newbies on CV-61 are grateful. You made it seem almost EASY to be doin' 5 things at once out there!!! RESPECT...!

The serious question would be if your body could handle it. Mentally, all of us that truly loved being up Topside, would continue to do it. But physically, absolutely not. Working on the flight deck continuously for many years prior to separation, takes a toll on your body.

All YOUR stuff is fantastic!

Deckedge holding one finger up indicates “Cat Ready”. 2 fingers from Deckedge indicates that “Bridle Tension” has been engaged. And then there’s “Military Power” or “Combat Power” (if afterburners are required). Then, there is the “Final” phase, to which the Deckedge Operator puts up both hands. This is the last phase the operator does before pushing the “Fire” button. But, a lot of visuals regarding A/C launching, as well as clearance from the Bow Operator to the JBD operator need to be done prior to pushing that button.

AGREED! The Air Boss used to say its steel choreography!

It's like having a convertible car... on nice days you can open up the top and enjoy the wind in your hair and the sun on your face, but on crappy days where there is rain or snow or nuclear/chemical/biological hazards you can leave the top UP and operate your car as normal... see what I'm getting at there?

There needs to be options in case one mode of operation fails.

Nuttin to it (almost)!

Good luck to you Shipmate! Hopefully you’ve posted your progress since your initial post.

A you can actually get them in are every minute, even a little faster if tried.

Once an aircraft has launched there is a system below deck for each catapult that retracts the shuttle (the metal skid that they hook the aircraft nose to) and it comes back to the hook up area. Until that comes back nothing can be launched from that cat. As soon as an aircraft is spotted or positioned on that cat track by a yellow shirt and is OK'd by the squadron checkers it can technically be hook up, but it won't be, not yet... there is only one crew of green shirts for each set of cats (cats 1 & 2 and cats 3 & 4) so they focus on one of their cats at a time. You will notice that they are standing in the path of catapult 1 while launching form cat 2, and visa vera, (so maybe having a hooked up and ready to launch plane on that cat is a bad idea!) The crews are quick and thorough, so between 4 well-running cats you could launch pretty quickly.

mfd78 that's right

The ragged, dirty, stinking but EXTREMELY PROUD Green Shirt!

Agreed...My old buddy - the FD Aviation Bos'n - used to tell all us newbies that "Death walks right beside you on the Flight Deck. WATCH EVERYTHING!!!"

make a ready deck = set the flight deck up for recovery (landing) operations

+Lucky Ducky It's an exaggerated form of "Clear left, clear right, clear above". Everyone adds their own little taste to hand signals. I had my own when launching helicopters. In this case, he's "checking" for the any aircraft/personnel in the way or above and to make sure they don't launch into a wave in heavy seas. Since there wasn't much going on, and a camera was on him, he added some taste to the move.

+Lucky Ducky Former ABE2 USS John F. Kennedy CV-67 1986/87 1988/89 Med cruises Deck edge operator Catapults #1 & #2. over the years some of the procedures have changed launching aircraft from when I did till now. but what you are describing is still the same, someone adding a little extra knowing their on camera

+Lucky Ducky it means we gotter done one time.. soooo dangerous

Actually, if you’re referring to the video, the Deck Edge operator had done multiple things wrong. IAW TYCOM and NAVAIR manuel operations, the Deck Edge operator uses the same hand that’s raised to press the next button of sequence. ** You don’t utilize your alternate arm/hand **. And the sweep could be debatable. Normally, you would look AFT to FWD prior to depressingly the “Fire” button. In the video, the operator did the opposite. Deck Edge operators last line of vision prior to firing the catapult is to ensure that ALL clearance is safe forward of the cat track. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen bone-head Sailors pop up unexpectedly from the cat walk that causes a “Suspend”.

+RenoDesu Pretty sure it's to make sure no one is going to be hit by the aircraft when it launches

+Terrae He is looking for anyone in the way of launching and also looking for anyone who may be signaling to suspend launch

@@steelcitystorm Is the sign to stop launch "wave your hands like team America" 🤣

@@steelcitystorm Both Tim and you are right! It's the final CLEAR TO SHOOT signal.

He is about to press the button to send this bird to the sky, before he does he makes sure that no one on the deck is throwing a "suspend" signal (arms crossed over your head indicating that something is wrong and to immediately stop the launch sequence). Everyone stained around the aircraft signals good-to-go unless there is a problem. If he sees nothing but thumbs-up he gets the shooter's signal to launch. His hands are up and moving to show that he is no where near the button, but is intending to hit it.

First he has 1 finger up telling cat officer catapult is in first ready. Then he presses take tension Waits for stand by with two lights on the deck edge panel operator shows two fingers When final cocked ready lights deck edge operator puts both hands in the air showing everyone I can’t fire the cat Cat officer signals launch Deck operator checks forward then aft for anyone signaling suspension All good deck edge operator presses fire button launching aircraft Did this thousands of time 85-89

​@@chrismaggio7879 Chris you are the STAR of this post!!! The console is talking to him...(OOPS see V2catapults comment elsewhere here)...Basically, two hands up = CLEAR TO SHOOT (cocked & ready)...and when he bends down, stand by for the WHOOOSH...! With an ICCS bubble, you can't see any of that I don't think!?!?!?

I would like to point out that the Deckedge operator isn’t in compliance with NAVAIR 51-15ABB-4.1 flight deck operation guidelines, as far as hand signals goes. What I do want to ask and get a different perspective is, what is the correct “sweep” from the Deckedge operator “after” they get the signal to Fire?? Is it Forward to Aft? Or, is it Aft to Forward? Curious on what everyone’s thoughts are, and why.

Wife says the same thing.

They're inflatable lifeboats.

SWIMMING WITH SHARKS!

Lifeboats in case of man overboard. Each container will hold roughly around 50 sailors, and will provide around 1-2 weeks worth of rations, if done properly.

@@DJ-ir2qy haha nooooo not quite. Notice what he does when he crouches down... he is talking into his sound-powered-phone to the cat control panel or whoever he needs to below deck. by squating down even that much he cuts down significantly on the noise from the aircraft and can hear/be heard on the com system. But I like the gun idea too.

Don’t know exactly the response that was probably deleted, but the reasoning for “ducking” down is due to the AO’s arming the aircraft.

Depends on the mode of operation.

@@FlightDeckLife Which mode?

dan theman normal mode the bubble, deckedge mode... you know

@@drnogueiras8783 So answer my question, when do you use deckedge and when do you use the bubble?

dan theman you asked “which mode”... the modes are literally called “normal” (or conventional) mode, and “deckedge” mode. Are you now asking why they would use one mode or the other?

some one gets shot

Any flight deck personnel involved with this particular launch “Forward” of the aircraft will “get down and duck”, until arming of weapons is completed.

@@torn-_shuttle123 No I meant as they watched the video did anyone else Duck watching the jet launch, even tho it was a video I still ducked my head down as the wing went overhead lol

@@UnicornPastelPrincessHaha! After reading your comment, yes. I can visualize what you’re talking about!

That varies greatly. Each color shirt on the deck has a number of things to do even before they spin an aircraft into position. I can speak about what I did as a greenshirt. The greenshirts (catapult and arresting gear operators) have to ensure all the associated equipment that comprise the actual "catapult" are up and running to full capacity and everything checks out. This begins maybe two hours before the launch window opens. Then based on how many aircraft are scheduled to launch and recover, and often times they repeat several take offs and landings, because practice is essential, the launch and recovery cycles may take several hours.. per squadron! And when they are done with flight ops you don't just turn off the lights and go to bed, no... you do many hours of post op repairs and unexpected maintenance and rebuilds and periodic maintenance and cleaning and restocking and training (both on the equipment and on the deck). And if one of the cats "breaks" you may have hours and hours of heavy duty mechanical repairs to do. So, an 18 hour day is not unusual at all, and also not all done in sunny calm conditions. Launching at night and in rough weather is routine, as you have to be proficient no matter the environment, and topside maintenance takes longer. For other shirt colors they have different routines and requirements and most likely spend less time pre and post operations doing mechanical stuff, but they do work just as hard. Hope that helps

@@chrismaggio7879 its a balance trying to get everything done, but also not induce errors due to fatigue that may compromise safety. at the same time, you have to acclimatize people to this because real combat doesnt take breaks.

The maximum length of flight ops is 24 hours!

There is no maximum length of flight operations. But, if we’re discussing “shifts”, personnel are not allowed to work more than 12 hours as per TYCOM requirements. 12 hours on, 12 hours off was the last instruction I saw in 2017.

Would love to hear your explanation on how easy it is. You can’t just post a half-assed comment without elaborating.