I was a ABH ( Carrier Deck Ape), worked on the flight deck in my Navy period. That was after my US Marine period and US Army Period. It was interesting but when you have an active deck of moving (positioning), launching and catching planes and helicopters at night it gets real dangerous and nerve racking because time is of the essence, creating a constant rush and you get tired, make mistakes, get hurt. Nothing like the Combat period as a Forward Observer US Marine but not a kick back easy job none the less. I was hit and knocked out by a F-14, electrocuted by 220 volts as someone failed to add a ground wire while charging the battery. Catch cables zip across the deck and you cannot see the spinning propellers and many time cant even see or notice the fire coming from the tail. When out to sea our ship would burn dark black smoke. You blow your nose and it comes out black. Nasty stuff. And your head gear goggles are marked up so obstructed vision to start with. One small propeller plane a Grumman C-1 had a handle on each side. It did not use the catapult. We would take it to the back of the ship and two men held it. My favorite job, and with the plane running up to test the engines and the sea heaving the plane and we all would go up in the air off the ground and then come down again and then on signal we let the plane go and it would lumber down the deck and take off. I was on CV-64. Well done video of flight ops but with a clear deck. Ours were extremely crowded and crazy maker deck decks. youtu.be/APuYyfq12ts
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:06:06 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015