This guy is one of the final checkers (looking for abnormals prior to launch).. Cool helmet mounted perspective:



BeachAV8R

Wow dangerous job

Makes just about every other job look mundane. What a cool thing to be doing.

I never envied the flight deck crew. That deck radiates heat like nobody's business, especially in the Gulf in the summer time, and the kinds of working hours they had to keep when there's cyclical flight operations going on...

That there aren't more accidents on the flight deck is a testament to the training and professionalism of those folks.

Sorry..I mean to post this in the Photography & Video forum and it ended up here.. If a mod would like to move it..

BeachAV8R

I'm reading Angles of Attack by Peter Hunt on my new Kindle. He describes (A6) carrier operations in great detail from the pilots point of view. This was a perfect video to go with that book, lots of thanks for posting. Now we just need an air combat simulation to do the carrier ops experience justice as well. None of the ones I've ever played have even come close.

-C-

Great video, I had the privilege of being on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt while it launched a few f-14/18's. Then they did some high speed flybys and maneuvers. Nothing quite like experiencing the power of those planes and that catapult in person.

Yeah..a lot of moving parts and a dynamic environment. And the one thing we all probably overlook is that they are missing (to a large degree) and important sense - hearing. All that stuff is going on around them and they got radios blabbing in their ears but their head has to constantly be on a swivel. Not to mention one wrong move by the pilot and some of those hydraulically operated items could rip off a hand or worse.. Just a whole lot of awesomeness in that video.. I wonder if he had to get special permission to wear that GoPro. I can only imagine if that thing got blown off and FOD'd an engine.. My guess is it was approved for use in the "cruise video" or something..or maybe even as a teaching tool for new White Shirts (I think that what the safety check guys are..white shirts..)..

I could watch documentaries about the inner workings of carrier operations all day long. Even the cooking and washing and all the logistics behind a carrier are incredible..

BeachAV8R

Yes sir. I'm amazed at what all our service men and women and especially a carrier crew does on our behalf. The skill, effort, training and man hours and long shifts these folks pull amazes and humbles me.

Those guys are true professionals.

When the final checkers came around your plane to check it (they did it on land and sea...a great safety idea that didn't seem to quite translate into airline flying), they gave you the "hands up" signal. Woe betide the pilot who stuck his hands in the cockpit before the plane captain gave him the next signal signifying all clear.

Of course, that was always when ATC started quacking at you and you felt the magnetic pull between the mic switch and your thumb!

Deacon

Great video! Now where's Bohemia Interactive with it's new Take On Flight Deck Crew game?