Ever since I spent a day training with the National Guard in the early 1980s for a piece I was writing (complete with poison ivy), I've been fascinated by the ballet of military operations, particularly planes. To get big things done efficiently on aircraft carriers, the Navy designs methods of execution and constantly perfects them—with different groups assigned to handle various parts to ensure safety, speed and success. I love watching this activity. For me, it's like visual music.
Nothing in this realm is more beautiful or more cool than the choreography that takes place on the flight deck, day and night. I've long angled for an assignment to write about the bevy of activity to launch and recover (land) jets, but the idea is a hard sell. That hasn't prevented me from obsessively researching and watching the process on YouTube.
First, Navy jets don't take off from the decks of carriers. They're launched. Once a jet is brought up from below by a team wearing brown jerseys, it's fueled by a team in purple and loaded with bullets, bombs, missiles and rockets by red shirts. Next, it taxis slowly to a catapult at one end of the deck's three different flight zones (or mini airports) guided by hand and arm signals provided by yellow shirts. Once there and lined up on the catapult's track, the plane's wings are spread and a team in green jerseys attaches the plane's launch bar to the catapult's shuttle embedded in the deck. The person responsible for the setting the correct catapult velocity is the one in green sitting in a hatch on the deck. Settings are based on the size of the plane, the wind and other factors. Last-minute safety inspections by a team in white jerseys also are completed.
Because the flight deck is deafening with the high-pitched screams of jet engines, all personnel wears noise-cutting headphones. As a result, communication among those on deck is done with hand signals. At the helm of these visual conversations at the catapult stage is the "shooter," who also wears yellow. The shooter is the one who will give final clearance to the pilot. When the inspection and catapult attachment are done, each team crouches on deck with eyes on the shooter.
The shooter then raises an arm and rotates three fingers rapidly, which signals to the pilot to go through a checklist of tech steps in the cockpit. Once those are completed, the pilot salutes the shooter, who then holds his or her hand firm, points to each deck group with the other hand for a thumbs up, indicating their tasks are complete. With those confirmations secured, the shooter goes into a streamlined crouch, with one leg bent at the knee and the other extended out nearly flat.
The shooter then touches the deck with his or her hand and lifts it to point down the fly deck, often holding the hand in the shape of a pistol. This signals to the pilot that he or she is cleared to go. Engines are fired and the catapult sling-shots the jet down the runway to accelerate the speed and ensure a safe lift off. Each shooter has a little leeway to exhibit his or her own body-language and hand style when holding attention and delivering the go-ahead to pilots.
That's the long and short of it in broad strokes. Here are a bunch of my favorite videos that illustrate the cool choreography I describe above:
Here are teams at work on the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush...
Here's an explanation of the different deck teams and their roles...
Here are flight-deck operations on the U.S.S. Enterprise...
Here's what the shooter is responsible for...
Here's another shooter roundup...
Here's what it's like from the cockpit...
And here's where the art comes into play, as each shooter has a slightly different style. The shooters in this video had a very singular style...
