This is the 'Game Changer' for Carrier Pilots

Using an old Navy training film for contrast, Ward discusses how Precision Landing Mode has drastically changed how today's Navy pilots land on an aircraft carrier.

And as an audiobook here:

[MattiasHenriksson-swxw]

As a Swede, we do not have aircraft carriers BUT obviously I'm a great believer in the meatball!

[chrismaggio]

I really need to set up a version of the meatball in the back of the garage so my wife doesn't hit the sides of the garage door opening... again.

[ducs]

My Dad flew Hellcats during WWII and Panthers in the early '50s. Stick and rudder days. He did a round the world cruise on the Tarawa in 1954, it was an unusual cruise in that they lost no aircraft on it.

[Yomamakizmanuts]

“It doesn’t make it easy, it just makes it less difficult.”

If things were easy, everyone would be doing it. Great words of wisdom!

[tomwilson]

Love those old D.O.D. films from the late 40’s - 70’s, which were made at Lookout Mountain AFS in Hollywood. They have a certain look and sound to them that holds a lot of nostalgia and were simple and easy to understand. Today’s training films seem hard to follow and overly confusing, which isn’t beneficial to new generations of recruits. Keep it simple!

[TamagoHead]

I came from Air Force Parents.

Dad was in SAC before the merge, and Mom delayed her retirement from Hickam Logistics due to the 1st Gulf War. (She got a lot of overtime as a civilian worker).

I have to say that US Naval Aviation is badass. Props to our Navy and Marine folk!

As always, thank you for your continuing service!

[adrianreedy]

The Lockheed L1011 had a similar system to PLM called Direct Lift Control (DLC). When the flaps were lowered to the landing position, all the spoilers raised to an intermediate position. Then as you made pitch inputs with the control column the actual pitch remained the same but the spoilers modulated up or down to change the flight path along the glide slope. I seem to remember the spoilers still worked differentially to aid the ailerons with roll control. Worked like a charm.

[curtisphilumalee]

Everytime you post these carrier landings videos it reminds me back in the early 70’s of watching my dad’s 8mm film of his Hawkeye landing on the Connie on station off the coast of Vietnam. Looked like fun as a kid but thinking about it now it must of been a pretty violent stop.

[cutedogsgettingcuddles]

My grandpa flew Bell helicopters in Korea, ran out of gas once on final approach to a carrier, and it was so close he scraped the skids off on the stern of the ship. Another foot or two lower and you wouldn't be reading this now.

[scottcooper]

The old saying I heard (back in my days in VT10) was that Naval Aviators (tactical) can do everything an Air Force pilot can - plus they land on that little flight deck....

[rogfromthegarage]

So the guy with the last name "Converse" gets the call sign "Keds". Brilliant.

[Roberto-oilm]

I had to laugh at the training film which perpetuated the myth that you make a carrier approach in a crab since the carrier is constantly moving to the pilot's right. Back in the days of iron men and wooden decks when I was flying the F-8 Crusader ( a particularly difficult airplane to land on a carrier), the ship's navigator in consultation with the Air Boss was able to put the wind right down the angle nearly all the time if there was a bit of natural wind for him to work with. Consequently, we lined up with the center-line and flew directly into the relative wind (coming right down the angled deck) without any crab just like every carrier pass then and now. Airplanes fly relative to the wind and if that wind is lined up with the runway, no crab is required and that is exactly the same on a stationary runway as it is on an angled deck. Of course, if there is a cross wind, you must fly final in a crab to stay on center-line and that is the case with a crosswind relative to a conventional runway or in the rare case of no natural wind at sea when the navigator has no choice other than to put the wind is down the axial deck.

[lauriekeiski]

In full disclosure, I’m not a pilot but a surface line officer. In 1963 the Navy installed the SPN10 system on the Midway. This was an automated landing system using a precision radar beam locked onto the nose wheel. There were approximately 50 successful traps with Paxriver aircraft. The system was installed on our F4 squadron but to my knowledge no traps were accomplished. Word was the pilots said if their hands weren’t on the stick then they would be on ejection handles

[JamesCarroll-oq]

The L1011 had DLC or Direct Lift Control. Once established the spoilers deployed 7 degrees and the elevator did not move. Pushing forward on the wheel caused the spoilers to increase to as much as 14 degrees. Pulling aft the spoilers would go as much as stowed. The planes attitude did not change. I’m surprised that late’60s technology took so long to be applied to a fighter.

[TGraysChannels]

The Lockheed L-1011 did something like this on an ILS approach. When the Glideslope was captured, moving the yoke forward or aft, did not move the elevator, it moved the spoilers (on the wing). The "lift" was changed without changing the Angle of Attack (or airspeed) of the aircraft.

Hats off to Lockheed. The L-1011 was decades (or more) ahead of the competition. And while the complexity of the jet made it not economical, it was truly an amazing aircraft.

[cheesenoodles]

In my youth, we would watch pilots in F4s practice at El Toro on a mock carrier deck. It was impressive.

[williammrdeza]

Great content Ward. Loved the old film and the PLM explanation. Quite the contrast in technology.

[RogerRamjet]

Still very complicated - like you said: "Only the best get to do it". Thanks for another great video!

[neil]

PLM notwithstanding, anyone that can land an airplane at 130/140 knots on a few hundred feet of moving steel at night in the middle of the an ocean is one he** of a pilot. They truly are the best of the best!

[jamielancaster]

All right, I think I’m ready for Carrier landings.