Catshot question

[Micro]

Hey, fellas. As far as I know, it used to be that all aircraft launching from a carrier went into military power when the topside petty officer gave the pilot the tension sign (rear hand saying hi, front hand pointing to the bow). At that point there was still a green shirt under the plane checking the hook-up. Then, once the topside petty officer handed the jet off to the shooter, the pilot would do the wipeout and go to burner if needed.

However, I got into a conversation with my boss who was a shooter on the Bush from 2010-2012 and he says that he has never heard of an aircraft running up to military power until all personnel have cleared the area (after the green shirt checks the hook-up and runs out with a thumbs up). According to him, the aircraft now stay at idle until the top side petty officer hands the plane off to the shooter and he gives the pilot the "wiggley peace sign". He was pretty adamant that aircraft have never run-up their engines until the shooter takes control.

I'm just curious if I really am going crazy or if they did in the past run the jets up to mil with green shirts still at the nose gear. And, if so, what caused the change to wait until everyone is clear? Thanks.

[Colin K]

Well, I'm no expert, but since the Shooter is in control of the entire launch, the pilot wouldn't go to full power until the Shooter signals him or her too. Pretty sure the Shooter won't signal that until the Petty Officer runs out with the thumbs up. Most every video I've seen on youtube has occurred in that manner.

This video shows everything, close up.

[Spook498]

You wouldn't come up on the power till all the people are out of the way from being near the intakes. At mil power, a Super has a lot of "grab"....

[Micro]

Well, after searching the internet all night long because I really needed to know if I was losing my mind, I have come to the conclusion that it used to be standard to run-up your engines when the "tension" signal was given and a greenshirt was still under the jet. Colin and Spook, I agree that the current procedure is to clear everyone out from the aircraft prior to adding power, as Colin's video shows. However, that video is relatively new. I've attached 4 older videos that clearly show the aircraft increasing power (presumably to MIL) when the tension signal is given by the topside petty officer prior to being handed off to the Shooter. Now I'm curious what led to the change. As Spook said, these jets have a lot of "grab" at MIL, so I hope the change to wait until everyone is clear came to prevent what we are all thinking as opposed to being a result.

[afoxbat]

Guess I'm an old fart now, but in the days of the Phantom, Crusader, Whale, Intruder, and Corsair II, on boats like the Ranger, Kitty Hawk, Coral Sea, FD Roosevelt, and Enterprise; and before the planes flew themselves off the flightdeck, the aircraft used to go to Mil right after they tensioned the cat. One school of thought was if everything held together at Mil during the final checks, then A/B was no problem-( not always the case though ). Another was that if a catastrophic cat failure occurred, at Mil thrust, enough forward velocity and nose up attitude could be attained, and a marginal ejection could become a successful one. Everyone was trained to stay clear of intakes, and in the case of the F-4, 4 feet from BEHIND the intake. Once the troubleshooters gave all clear, the plane went to A/B, one final check, and launch. The only birds with fans were the A-7 and S-3. And they were like giant vacuums. The F-4's were a little more complicated on the cats too. They used cable harnesses for the cat shuttle and their hold back fitting was aft of the centerline tank. The Whale and Crusader did likewise. No launch bar on these birds like all current a/c. I could see the issue of going to idle on the newer birds- it's probably hard to get around a Hornet on the cats considering the intake location especially at mil and A/B. I suppose better seats, engines, and technology have expanded the operations envelope and provided more safety. Anyway, just a perspective on how they used to do things...

Afoxbat

Former Navair type (ret)