G B

In non carrier aviation, the saying goes “go arounds are free.” That is absolutely true and a great mindset. In the carrier environment this is absolutely untrue. An Own Waveoff is a cardinal sin unless in extremis.

Yes the configuration was specific to the hornet. I don’t know what’s correct for the tomcat. That said, 150 is the speed.

Case 2: same as case 1 Case 3: Call “airborne” Gear up, flaps half, speed 150 Climb to angels 1.2 When approach says, turn left to the downwind heading Fly 2 miles abeam the course line When abeam the ship, call “abeam, fuel state” Turn left to the final bearing when told If told at 4 miles, dirty up at the start of the turn If told at 6 miles, dirty up halfway through the turn If told at 8 miles or more, dirty up once back on the final bearing Fly on the final bearing as you did on your first approach.

All of this about ICLS is correct. Not to be used for guidance once in the groove. It’s not just that it isn’t used; it *shouldn't* be used.

Somebody with 20/25 is eligible so long as the vision is correctable to 20/20. I personally know several nukes (including nuke school instructors) who transferred to aviation and became F-18 pilots.

This is purely an academic discussion. This does not exist. On a very infrequent basis, a pilot may not respond during an individual pass. That will be noted in the comments with a box around the ignored command in the LSO comments. That typically warrants a downgrade. This is usually a mental fluke instead of a repeated offense, and never deliberate. Edit: forgot to mention. A waveoff is never ignored. That one is kind of hard to miss.

Seat eye height. Literally nothing else.

I edited my last comment. My apologies, I misread the picture on my small phone. Yeah the disparity is not insignificant. To be fair, IRL, discrepancies like that are not uncommon in the groove like that. Just miscalibrations that dont get better over time. As far as the data we're talking about, it is published out there (as I've learned it)...but I do not know if it is available for public consumption. I do now see your frustration. A low ball at touchdown should not equal a 4 wire. HOWEVER, depending on your energy state, a low ball in-close with power added in the last second of the pass *could* have you float over the wires (what the LSO would call "flat" with the symbol "B") to snag the 4th. A video would be much stronger data for this particular case.

On speed AOA is 8.1. The “waterline” W symbol isn’t really referenced for this at all if you have a working INS. Edit: Misread the picture on my small phone. Edit: one must be careful when using subjective terms like “marginally high” and “way low.” That’s fairly unscientific. You’d need to actually look at the true glideslope measurements of each source for the true answer (I.E. the width of the glideslope of each cell of the IFLOLS at each distance from the source; the width of the glideslope per “unit of deflection” of the glideslope needle at each distance from the source).

The hook-to-eye value has to be set for the IFLOLS for each type of aircraft. Otherwise, each type of aircraft's hook would touchdown in a different place for a centered ball at touchdown.

I mean a pilot *can* compare the two. That’s good headwork. But it’s not a formal procedure.

There is an ACLS comparison procedure, but it is between the pilot and controller. On the final bearing the controller will say: “ACLS lock, on say needles“. Then the pilot replies with what the ACLS (not ICLS) is showing (“up and right”). Then the controller will check his ACLS repeater to see if that matches. If so he will say “concur.” Nothing to do with ICLS.

What comparison are you talking about? That comparison (between ACLS and ICLS) is not a procedure. It behaves like a real FD. I am not “taking” it that way. I’ve done it a time or two.

ACLS is not just deck motion compensation. It does behave like a flight director. If will lead your turns gradually to roll you out on course, as an example. It is predictive for both lateral and vertical guidance.

ICLS is a raw data beam. ACLS is a datalink and it does provide predictive guidance, sort of like a flight director.

IRL the two are often miscalibrated by some nonzero amount anyway. Just imperfections in the calibration.

Big misconception: 3/4 of a mile is not a thing for case 1/2. It is only for case 3. During case 1/2, you NEVER EVER aim for a distance behind the ship. You aim for a groove length of 15-18 seconds. That actually happens to end up being less than 3/4 of a mile, but it doesn’t matter because you don’t care about groove distance anyway. To the OP: once you’re in the groove (case 1/2) or call the ball (case 3), you fly only the IFLOLS, not the ICLS.

Exactly right. Check it out:

There are many carrier landing PLAT videos (including crash videos) that you could look up and see jets get way underpowered and/or low in close, and see the LSOs try to save him by waving him off. Are there threats with late waveoffs, yes. But they aren’t the type that make LSOs *avoid* late waveoffs. Just an awareness. There ARE serious threats with extremely late lineup calls.

So long as the deck is clear the LSO can trigger the WO lights whenever he needs. If the deck is foul, then there are Waveoff “windows.” The waveoff lights could be commanded a microsecond before touchdown. An LSO a will call for the waveoff whether or not it is physically possible. If you end up trapping, so be it. The waveoff is not only to send you around, the waveoff is to push your hands all the way forward on the throttles. Think of the waveoff as the “ultimate power call.” It’s not like an LSO says “well he’ll probably trap, no point in waving him off now.” Lex is right. So long as you waveoff on speed, it doesn’t matter when the WO is commanded. Maintaining on-speed prevents an in flight engagement. Only an over rotation or slow AOA will contribute to an IFE. If you are commanded a waveoff you could be assigned the waveoff grade even if you trap. It’s possible to get a “ WO 3” or “WO 2” or whatever. A late waveoff is NOT a mistake by the LSO, as was posted previously.

No rudder. NERR and other rudder comments are pretty much exclusively used to describe propeller powered aircraft (E-2, C-2).

Start here. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4333568#post4333568

IRL, each aircraft will receive their holding instructions. After that, they can split up immediately, but more often, the lead will fly as he chooses while changing to his altitude, and the wingman will just level off early at his altitude (if descending from above) or late (if climbing from below). Once one of them levels off, they are completely split. I think you may be overthinking this. Instructions are passed, pilots draw their little profile, and then they do whatever they need to do in terms of flight path and speed to try to join that profile.

At 20 DME: If within 10 radials of the FB, slime it over gradually If greater than 10 radials of the FB, correct 30 degrees towards the final bearing. If you are not going to be able to intercept the final bearing by 12 miles, join the 12 mile DME arc and then arc to the final bearing. Usually the offset isn’t big enough to cause and arc but it could happen. Beware: Murphy’s Law kicks in at 20 DME. Usually here, your RADALT set at 5k is going off, as you, call platform, as you get handed off to approach, as you correct to final bearing. A busy time indeed.

ATC does not. The time is based on when they need you on deck. More specifically, when they need the first aircraft on deck (the one at 6k). He gets his push time based on that. Everybody else gets theirs one minute apart after that.