The REAL Truth About LSOs 

Ward…. And Hozer! Omg I was so incredibly humbled to hear that Hozer thought highly of me back in his advanced jet days at VT-7. Coming from a guy like Hozer, that absolutely floored me. I am so glad I was able to have an impact in his life that way. Wow…. Personally, I went on to serve as Cag Paddles onboard USS Carl Vinson, and I hung on every word Hozer had to say about that experience. For me, it was incredible WestPac pitching decks, Bering Sea high winds and blinding snow, and later on back on the East coast as dept head on Theodore Roosevelt, I was right there enjoying those North Atlantic rollercoaster rides too. What memories all of that stuff brought back. Thank you BOTH for an amazingly good discussion. Again thanks so much for the honor of you mentioning this old tired LSO on your channel. Tremendously humbling. All the best! Peebs

Mooch, This interview with "Hoser" is excellent. Answers a lot of questions I've always had. He explains the complexities of coming aboard the carrier with high performance A/C. I worked on F9F5's (Panthers) and FJ4B A/C 1957- 1959 in VMA 223. (The Battling Bull Dogs) I witnessed a lot of A/C accidents. I became a commercial pilot in the 60's and the rest is history. Semper Fi.

Funny Non-Com story from a former AZ2. I was deployed on IKE, CVN-69 with VA-46 and was serving as an Ops Yeoman for our pilots at the time. I would sit in the ready room with the headset on, recording the landings of our pilots, wire, bolter, t&go, etc.. One night, I wrote on the chalkboard, "When I grow up, I want to be the guy the says, ROGER BALL." The next day, LT. Tim Kennedy, a fantastic officer and pilot, took me up to the LSO platform and let me observe the recovery operations, explaining along the way. It was big moment for a 19-20 year old kid and I gained a greater appreciation for the Navy Pilot. BRAVO ZULU!

I remember a stormy nasty night in the Med doing ops, our Maint. Officer was flying the the last event of the night and wound up boltering 3 times before getting aboard in one of our 3 flyable Prowlers. This was at the end of a LONG flight day, 10 events, and our troubleshooter crew was really tired and wet up on the deck. We were up there cheering him on like in a football game to get this bird back aboard. When he climbed out out of that cockpit he was as drenched as we were, in his own sweat. This is truly the Varsity out there. And this was during peacetime, 81-82 time frame on the JFK. The bird came back with no down gripes.

This was so enlightening .....really gets down to the nitty gritty of what the LSO does, alot more than just talking and pushing buttons.....Again, thanks Mooch and Hozer for letting us groundlings in on your experiences.....Cheers, PB

My two rules to waving probably passed down to me from the myriad of awesome paddles I had the priviledge to wave with: 1. Tie goes to the runner = if it was a tweener pass it was the higher grade of the two. 2. Grade the correction and not the mistake (unless it was truely a gross error). My favorite debrief was "Low start, nice correction, OK pass" Waving was awesome. It was the clique within a clique. You knew every pilot in the airwing and most of the NFO's. -Just to add a couple of things to the very well done video. There were usually 3 LSO's, or at a minimum 2 on the headset. 1 controlling LSO who would grade the pass and mostly concentrate on glide slope, a backup LSO who was often more senior than the controlling LSO and devided his/her time between glideslope and lineup (they had the PLAT in front of them on the platform so they could see the camera down the angle and tell if the jet was on centerline as it constanly moved away and to the right due to the angled deck), and the CAG LSO who was in charge of the whole operation. -When waving you had to use more than just your eyes and what you were seeing. You could tell far more and be ahead of the pilot by listening to the spool of the engines which would tell you not where the airplane was but where it would be based on the power input the pilot made. -When I was a sqaudron LSO in the FDNF we did MOVLAS at least twice a day (one day and one night recovery) and all of us, not just the CAG LSO's did it. 4 months into a 6 month cruise and you'd be pretty good at it. We'd play what we called MOVLAS baseball and the peanut gallery would call out what wire to put the next plane on. Good times.

Ward, I really enjoy your RU-vid videos. My son, currently a pilot in 102, bought me Punk’s War and I now have the two follow on books to read. Keep up the great work!

Great video, thank you Hozer and Ward. The best LSO were also teachers, not just debriefers. Well done.

Very interesting to know what an LSO responsibility for helping pilots safe landing on a boat. I am proud Dad of my son selected as LSO to his squadron lately.

Mooch, I've noticed that a lot of folks in the brownshoe world call the carrier "the boat". To a retired Chief blackshoe surface snipe this goes against all I've ever been taught regarding vessel identification. "Ya puts boats on ships unless referring to a submarine". EMC(SW) USN(ret.) Marty Palmiere

Mooch needs to visit a carrier. People have done it before, and it'd make a great video!

He "leaf blowered" the flight deck. Felt bad for that pilot, but that comment and vid was priceless.

Nice. I particularly enjoy the assessment part, how to polish up skills without recklessly destroying pilot careers by needlessly humiliating people. I wish that mentality was used in a lot of other high stress professional careers.

Should point out that every pass at the ship is recorded via the PLAT. Any significant disagreement between pilot and LSO can be resolved by going to the replay. In my experience, the LSO is virtually always right. They also replay the PLAT tapes after recovery and pilots always watch their pass after recovery.

Ward- all this shit is fascinating, further cementing how HARD it is to be a member of the Navy fighter community: the standards, the grading process....which NEVER ends. I've followed military fighter aviation for decades....and NEVER heard the insights offered from a LSO. Or offered from ANY other content creator. #Kudos

I love how you show all the moving parts of a carrier operation 👍👍 Love the episodes with Hozer 😊

Interesting stuff! I served as an LSO spotter with V-5 aboard the Vinson and loved being out there with those guys.

My dad (grumpy)retired in 67 and I still have his paddles from his log books it looks like he flew alot of planes starting with the Stearman

I was on that Norway deployment. Never will forget how they completely missed the timing of that C-2 COD day launch off cat4. We had been on hold for hours and thought surely they’d call it a day as the deck was pitching as bad as I’d seen since we arrived there. Must’ve been critical cargo combined with human error, as suddenly the signal was given, and the plane was launched shortly at the exact wrong time- deck pitching and aircraft vanishing downward into a wave breaking over the ramp. Had time to think about it and ride another full wave cycle before seeing the plane slowly climb above the deck out of the mist. A few other close calls but that was another level. Wonder what story the crew had to tell at debrief…

I may be retired and on a fixed income but it didn't take many YT views for me to conclude your channel was worth supporting on Patreon.

I enjoy your channel very much. As an AO, working the flight deck, I was aware of what was happening on the flight deck as far as loading, preparing an aircraft for launch and passing it off to the next station toward launch, as well as recovering and securing the aircraft. These videos allow me to complete my understanding of what we all were working together on as a team and understanding what the aviators were dealing with in addition to all of the other actors on the flight deck. It's amazing how everyone's training allows each piece of the puzzle, that makes up a squadron, as well as ship's company, to automatically come together for safe launch and recoveries with very few emergencies or injuries in a world where the odds were always stacked against us. Speaks volumes to the quality of the individuals and the training that each receives! AO VF-11 Red Rippers, USS Forrestal CV-59 1991

Hozer's bio intro reminded me of a convo a Navy buddy (ex F-14 RIO) & I had about 13 years ago: "Dude, you know you're getting old when your jet is now on a stick in front of the gate at the base." Keep up the great work, Ward - enjoy the memories very much.

Behind every live Naval Aviator are LSOs that saved his life more than once.

I knew Hozer in the Corsair community. I flew A-7E’s on my first tour and qualified as a squadron LSO aboard the Saratoga (CV-60). After returning to Cecil we transitioned to the Hornet and during my post F-18 RAG transition I got to run up to Oceana and cross train on the F-14 Tomcat. I thoroughly enjoyed my LSO days and went back to the Hornet RAG as an instructor running the carrier qual as the PhaseHead. My only FA-18 burner waveoff was a student going through the RAG. I had orders to the IKE as the CAG LSO but turned them down to pursue the civilian aviation career. My LSO days gave me the experience I needed to be a good bush pilot flying into some crazy locations throughout Alaska. Landing a 737 on a 3800’ runway in Dutch Harbor, Alaska made me appreciate those Navy landings!!

It must be said that your channel demonstrates the intellectualism of US naval aviation and even US naval service. Pretty damned impressive; thanks so much for this.

My brother flew F4U’s and was a “ Paddles” during WWII (Pacific Theater). Watching wing camera/landings was intense for a 5 year old. He used arms/paddles/feet and body bringing his mates aboard - lots of movement - fascinating. - I inhaled deeply and was hooked for life ! Still flying and loving every minute. - - . Do a session on WW II paddles -

One of my jobs on the DD & FFG I served on was calibrating / maintaining / repairing the flight deck landing systems, including the Fresnel Lens & Wave-Off systems. Many a stormy night, when there was zero visibility and the ship was rockin’ & rollin’, I had several pilots thank me for helping land those pigs. Good stuff for a young sailor to hear.

Great stuff! I was on the Kennedy from 84-89 as part of ship’s company! Some of the best years of my life. Thanks for this look behind the curtain

I missed ‘visual aids’ today. I worked for Newport News Shipbuilding and was shift supervisor for reactor test so i got to ride a bunch sea trials and carrier acceptance trials by the navy. A highlight was a demonstration of the auto throttle with an A-6. I was stationed on the LSO platform as the A-6 flew the groove and waved off. Memorable to say the least. I also was impressed with a man overboard situation. I was in central control watching a helo get its rotors folded when man overboard was called. I swear i looked around the room and 2 minutes later that helo was getting airborne. It impressed the hell out of me. What was equally impressive was how fast the ship accounted for the entire crew. I was embarrassed to say they had to make announcements over the 1MC looking for shipyard workers to report in over an hour later. Mooch, how about an episode on survival?

Great discussion about the LSO world! During one deployment, to break up the monotony, my Crash guys and I use to hold up cards 1-4 showing the pilot what wire they caught and a line of thumbs up or down if we liked/disliked the pass... During MOVLAS we just showed the wire card. Stay safe, heads on a swivel.

What an amazing fraternity of men to belong to. No shortage of witty, intelligent gentlemen with a positive attitude. I envy you guys as I thoroughly enjoy the interplay between you all.

"I'd take the book", a sign of a great leader. Well done!

You knew it was going to be a fun night getting aboard when you switch to the final controller and the first thing you hear is the pitching deck calls along with a screaming burner waveoff call. Thanks to all the LSOs that kept me off the ramp!

I went in board the the USS Lexington. At the LSO station I note with amusement the faux Latin motto painted on it "Rectum Non Bustus". Basically it means "Do not bust your ass" 😂😂😂

Ward is up there with Blanco Lirio for great aviation content (especially his take on military matters.)

I always loved the sound of the S3's coming in. Sounds like a vacuum cleaner. We called them Hoovers.

My dad was a LTCDR on the Lexington in Pensacola. We used to go on tiger cruises. I can remember the smell of the grease. Everything was either claustrophobic or overwhelmingly immense. It's a bizarre and extreme environment to witness as a kid. I can't imagine living on it. Let alone landing an airplane on it.

love the bit about the Superbug driver 'leaf blower"-ing the flight deck. aviators come up with the best expressions

Wow what great stories Hozer is one hell of a Man thank you for your excellent service we need school teachers like Hozer and Ward

Class of ‘82? My first tour ended in ‘83 after two trips to Top Gun, WTI, and Red Flag. All with the Phantom (red helmet)

Timestamp 24:50 his face transforms as if he is actually back on a carrier operating the MOVLAS speaking to a pilot. Fascinating.

Good discussion, its hard for me to believe my flew off the Enterprise on F6F at night in WW2. Highest respect for all of you and your service.

I was 12 years old when Top Gun came out, and since then I've always had an interest in naval aviation and carrier ops. This channel is outstanding! Thank You!

The late John Mitchell, was my neighbor and a former skipper of JFK. His licenses plate was OK 3 and mine is ACLS. He was an Academy graduate and Naval aviator from the early 1950's. Miss talking aviation with him.

Mooch and Hoser, Nice work, gents! All the best, Benz

15:45 "If you really have to deliver a message, then you have to deliver a message...and then we would leave." That has to be the most badass Mob/Soprano attitude by a Navy pilot/LSO. LOL

Really intersting insight into the role of an LSO! Didn't know they'd get pilots to deliberately trap a 2 wire for fun, i'm using that as an excuse for all my 2 wires in the DCS F14!

Not only with this LSO episode but with most of these uploads I find it fascinating as a dutch normal average civilian with no military background to read the comments of retired or still serving US navy/ army/ air force/ marines and even the occasional coast guard men and women. Dealing with such daily responsibilities and dedication on a aircraft carrier is for sure inspirational for young people willing to become the best person they can be.

What a flashback. Spent many a day and night standing the duty corpsman watch at OLF Whitehouse (79-81) We had a Dodge Power Wagon 4x4 "Crackerbox" ambulance that you would check out from Cecil Field Clinic to support FCLP at Whitehouse. Most Corpsmen would stay down in the Crash Shack with the CFR crew, but I always enjoyed spending my time in the tower listening to the LSO out on the runway critiquing the A-7 & S-3 pilots. CDR, another great subject / video, about ops around the boat. OK-3 is my grade. Keep'em coming.

Slick Vasina is a legend and one of the BEST officers I’ve ever served with. A great human being.

Damn Ward, I'm impressed with your boundless enthusiasm for gleaning every drop of pertinent information out of this fella. Your command of the English language is really very good.

Really enjoyed this interview (as ever). The ready-room LSO debriefs put such a different cast on ops than what we did in the Air Force. I never fancied the Navy lifestyle of long deployments at sea, but I really admire and like a lot of what I've learned from you over the past few years about the Navy ways of doing things. Big respect.

Fascinating listening to these guys, I was a radar tech in the RAF mostly on Tornado back in the 80s and I miss this 'guy talk' great channel.

Educational, I often wondered how the L.S.O. was trained. I would have guessed they where old salts with more than a handful of cruises.

I remember 1st night of work ups on the America April 81, we had an A7 ramp strike. AC came to rest into the lens. Can only imagine all those LSOs diving into that net below. At least for a pilot, I always felt LSOs held the most responsibility together with the Air Boss.

He used to tell me about the double Golden Knights ( 100 + night landings ). That they were the most bad ass , cream of the crop , and fearless guys on the Carrier. Incidentally, he was also a courier and in charge of the 5” guns on the starboard side. We miss you dad. ❤️

Some great insights on what it is to be a LSO. And as always Ward does a great job of highlighting the human dynamics and relationships. I was fascinated with the discussion about the group landing debriefings, how the CAG LSO has to handle potential conflicts such as taking over for a junior LSO in the face of potential blowback from a senior pilot. And of course the tight relationship between the RIO and the pilot that once again demonstrates why there is such a string esprit de corps in the Tomcat community.

Fascinating episode. Thanks Mooch and Hoser. I've seen LSOs operating before, but this gave great insights into the importance and skill of this role.

Awesome to see two great authors and aviators together again. I've read Kevin's trilogy twice, and have the 2nd punk book on the way to me in the mail right now! Can't wait to finish reading the Punk trilogy.

My dad was the LSO on the Midway CVA 41 during ‘59-‘63. Pacific deployment. Kobe was a port he used to recall fondly. Did 4 years as Lt. before Dental then Ortho at University of Illinois. I was born at Norfolk General while he was at sea. His granddaughter just graduated as XO from the Academy. Nuclear engineering with Naval Architecture. She’s teaching now at Annapolis before going to Submarine school in December. The Admiral of the Sub fleet himself interviewed and accepted her personally.

Great episode. What a calm, thoughtful guest. I guess that’s exactly what you’d want in a LSO

Great video topic. Thanks Mooch!! Thanks Hozer!

Stuff keeps getting better! Interesting insight in LSO stuff!!

Another great topic and video. Interesting longform content. Thank you guys.

Extremely interesting as usual. Thank you very much to both of you.

Insightful interview Ward and Kevin! I didn't have the opportunity to interview an LSO for NNAM so hope someone there got this one for the record 'cuz it is really important! Thanks for bringing us on the platform! (Could be added to the display, eh Hozer?)

That was fascinating. Love the depth you were able to get to in a relatively short amount of time. Thanks!

Very informative interview. I concur with an earlier post: please visit a carrier. Would be a great series to see carrier op's from an aviator's perspective!

Superb. Having access to this insight is just brilliant. Thank you.

Absolutely love your videos. It's not often I will watch 30 min videos start to finish

Fascinating stuff. Thanks for a peek into the rare world of carrier ops.

Mooch . . . great piece. I remember my one stint on Lincoln with COMCARGRUONE, and we were qualifying the Aviators on their launches and recoveries before deployment. This was one of the first Marine legacy Hornet deployments mixed with Tomcats. I requested to experience a Recovery from the LSO spot. We went through the whole routine just like Hozer described it, and got out there just as the sun was setting. it was unnerving to watch the jets coming RIGHT AT YOU . . . until the last instant when they developed the Left Bearing Drift. The net was illuminated in case we had to bail, but truth be told if things went that bad you would probably 'Buy the Farm'. That exercise I got to witness an after dark in flight arrest of a Tomcat (Triple Sticks). Blew all the tires and they had to do FOD Walkdown again before we could recover everyone still in the stack. The next morning I saw Triple Stix launch. They didn't call it GRUMMAN IRON WORKS for nothing! TORCH Out!

Another interesting episode! On one cruise, mid 70s in CV-64, I was assigned as the post flight maintenance debriefer for the A-6 squadron. I shared a little cubby hole of an office with the squadron AK (supply) located across the passageway from Maintenance Control. So, I would be debriefing the air crew when the LSOs arrived to pass on their words of wisdom. Hoser’s description of the de-brief was exactly what I saw. One outlier was LCDR pilot who had transitioned from P-3s to A-6s. I liked him personally, but he did not like LSOs. He never got dangerous grades, but he also never got a lot of OK-3s either. To me his grades seemed to go down hill after he started calling the LSOs ass holes and SOBs.

I have a serious question…. Who the hell actually gives these videos a thumbs down? Smh.

Even just in DCS landing on the boat using real life procedures and standards for case 1 - 3 is pretty daunting. When you add in some one acting as paddles and it becomes next level knowing you're being graded. Much respect for those few that have done it for real.

Learned a lot about LSOs, thanks! Very timely, the latest English episode of the Omega Tau podcast is all about flying the F-18, one of the interviewees discusses his experiences as an LSO. This helped fill in a lot of the gaps.

At the end of your videos is a list of things to do, as you real them off I am complying like a preflight checklist or in my case a reactor startup. Keeps me in the moments I used to like. Thx

Whoa really awesome questions you prepared with viewers in mind, and good answers from Hozer.

As a Gear Dog on the Coral Sea and Theodore Roosevelt , we would take turns on the platform. I knew Spooge , Tuna ,Guads and Bird. Also BJ Dwyer who we lost during Desert Storm.

Don’t forget the mighty Phantom ii

Thanks for another great episode, Commander! It was really nice to see things from Paddles’ POV and to see Capt. Miller (another excellent writer!). 🤙🏼 Would you or have you ever considered doing an episode with your wife on ‘how to be a naval aviator’s wife’, or even ‘Navy wife’. There might be a few other subscribers interested in that issue. Thanks again! 😊

Another good one, Mooch. Your channel always makes my day. EKA3B NFO in VAQ130, Det 61, Ranger, 67-68, 68-69.

It’s tradition for naval aviators to refer to the ship as the boat. 😊

Another fabuous video - big thanks to Ward and Hozer!

My first tour as an E-2C NFO the squadron had what they called a "Lucky Mole" board where they tracked each pilot's landing against which NFOs were in the aircraft. I found this distasteful immediately, landing grades are a pilot thing. I think they meant well, so that NFOs would care about the process, but during landing E-2 NFOs can do nothing to help. I appreciate that RIOs could have an effect on the landing and I appreciate that you still sat back during the debrief.

thank you so much for your video's. I was an ordnance man in VA-85, an A-6 squqdron on the Saratoga in the mid 80;s. Your video's and stories brig back so many good memories. Thanks again.

I grew up in west Jax and seen all types of military aircraft flying around. I love war planes and even seen the Blue Angels at Cecil feild.

Very cool hozer came through meridian in Buckeyes and Skyhawks, I m a plane captain at nas meridian working with both vt-7 and vt-9 with t-45c goshawk, my mom was pc on buckeyes and Skyhawks and my stepdad was pc with buckeyes. Another great video

I was on the Teamwork 92 deployment onboard USS Guadalcanal LPH7. Roughest, coldest seas I ever sailed in. North Atlantic is definitely no joke. We definitely earned our Blue Nose

That was absolutely fascinating! Thank you!

I loved bing a Paddles, great time. Difficult but so worth it. Great video again Mooch...Bunky

Impressive!!! Thank you for your service gentlemen.

This is great stuff. I’m a carrier buff . My eyes were not very good when I was a teenager so I was not in the cards for me. I am head of maintenance of Flight School curretnly so in my own way I have a squadron. This type of information is really helpful as I have 20 different CFI‘s and four different A @P ,s and I need to be firm out them but also mentor. You guys do a great job of teaching how to mentor but also critique. Thank you for making this video and looking Forward to watching more.

Fascinating. Some time I'd like to hear an LSO's entire monologue for a few types of passes. I also wonder if Hozer changed any grades after the debrief, if so, why, and how he handled it. Keep it up, Ward (that's what she said)!

What a SUPERB perspective into that 'angle' of the team that must work together to keep the Sounds Of Freedom strong. God Bless all of you.

Gave me chills in a good way the comradrie. Excellent presentation

Well… It looks like I sure missed out on all the fun as an Air Force Wennie! Thanks very much this was extremely interesting!

Ward, the preflight video you did is such a great video that I believe you and one your friends who is a Super Hornet driver should do a similar one for the Super Hornet like the one you did for the F-14A/B/D, and if you so choose, do one for the E-2C because of the F-18F and E-2C’s place in the Air Wing now. I had worked with the EA-6B Prowler during my career for 37 years, and even flew some missions in the back seat, but the detail that you provided in the F-14A/B/D preflight video made me wonder just What did I miss during those walkarounds of the Prowler prior to launches. These kind of videos are so good, and sorta bridges the gap between civilians and Pilots/NFOs and their duties. Keep up the Great work!

Great episode! Very interesting learning about the LSO role.

Another great video Ward. Hozer seems like a really great guy as do you and all your former shipmates. Thanks for letting the world in on your "mostly" boys club.