Looking for gouge? Ask your Stupid Questions about Naval Aviation here (Part 1)

[CWJones411]

Is this the longest thread in AW history?

 

[SLAM]

It might be! I orginally stared a new thread asking a question about shooters. Then it was placed/combined into an existing thread that had a ton of posts already on it.

 

[ea6bflyr]

So, my question is this. When you're coming in during seas like that, what do you watch? I would guess some instruments come in as no use so would you just listen to Paddles all the way in? I finally (after a long time of wondering btw, been interested in this since I was a kid) how they get the plane in (the flat camera) but for the pilots what's it like up there?

When the seas get really bad, the LSO's break out the MOVLAS and talk down the pilots.

The pilot will use the meatball to "attempt" to stay on glideslope.

-ea6bflyr

 

[usmarinemike]

Another shooter question- Do the shooters have to be mindful of the angle of the bow when they shoot? I do think there would be much suckage if the aircraft became a direct fire projectile straight into the water.



Another quick, stupider question- Is JOPA said as "jopa" or J-O-P-A?

Thanks.

 

[Scoob]

Another quick, stupider question- Is JOPA said as "jopa" or J-O-P-A?

Thanks.

Now that is a stupid question.
\

 

[usmarinemike]

Now that is a stupid question.
\

Good answer....FWIW, I never heard of it before Air Warriors. Never heard of hinges or brown/black shoes or FAGs or DAPs or a lot of that other Navy stuff. I try to learn something every day. Unfortunately, nothing really presented itself today so I had to hunt for something cheap.

 

[BigIron]

Another shooter question- Do the shooters have to be mindful of the angle of the bow when they shoot? I do think there would be much suckage if the aircraft became a direct fire projectile straight into the water.



Another quick, stupider question- Is JOPA said as "jopa" or J-O-P-A?

Thanks.

1. When I am shooting topside, I am very mindful of where the deck is pitching. I time my shots when the pitch is down and coming back up. By the end of the catapult stroke, the pitch should be up and the aircraft safely airborne. I also have a backup pitch indicator on my centerdeck hatch so I can tell at night where the deck is because it's pitch black out there.

In the bubble, I have to rely mostly on my pitch indicating system (MORIAH system) to aide my shooting decisions. Here's a picture of it.

2. JOPA is prounounced "Joe-pah"

 

[loadtoad]

As a shooter do you have other jobs/responsibilities other than working on the deck?

 

[BigIron]

The Air Department on a carrier is split into Divisions:

V1 Flight Deck
V2 Catapults/Arresting Gear
V3 Hangar Deck
v4 Fuels
V5/V0 Admin

A shooter is a division officer of one of the above divisions. V2 is so large (200+ folks) that usually the newer shooters on board are branch officers within V2. Add on collaterals, and tower/bridge duties, you have yourself a full time job.

 

[loadtoad]

Gotcha - Figured it was that way but wasn't sure.

 

[guest0321]

F-35 Adoption in the Marines

I'm not in the air wing, and really have no clue how things work. When the Marines adopt a completely new aircraft such as the upcoming JSF or the Osprey, how do they fill these slots? I'm assuming its a mix of both completely new flight school graduates and cross training of veterans...am I right? Can someone shed some light on this?

 

[phrogpilot73]

I'm not in the air wing, and really have no clue how things work. When the Marines adopt a completely new aircraft such as the upcoming JSF or the Osprey, how do they fill these slots? I'm assuming its a mix of both completely new flight school graduates and cross training of veterans...am I right? Can someone shed some light on this?

You are correct. For the V-22, there a nuggets in the pipeline that are going to be V-22 guys from the get-go. They are also taking whole squadrons of Phrog pilots and transitioning them at once. Don't know how they're going to do JSF though.

Just out of curiosity, are you Force or Battalion?

 

[phrogdriver]

For god's sake people, if you don't want to fill in your profile, be more original than, "1,2,3,4,5!"

 

[Harrier Dude]

They will start by transitioning fairly senior pilots from other platforms (F-18 and AV-8B) to become FRS instructors and fill the first squadrons, and then they will start transitioning more junior fleet pilots. Then they will start assigning guys straight from flight school to overlap with the fleet transition guys.

Look at the MV-22 for an example.

FWIW, I flew the cockpit demonstrator for the F-35 last week and it was really amazing. It truly is the best of both worlds between Hornet and Harrier and a HUGE leap forward for us.

 

[phrogdriver]

I've been told that the F-35 FRS will be heavily sim-based, almost like the KC-130J. Any truth?

Did we have these problems going from F-4 to F-18 or A-4 to AV-8?