catapults on aircraft carriers

amorris311

amorris311

Well-Known Member
i was wondering when a plane is being catapulted off the flight deck of an aircraft carrier and has a flameout what happens. are they out of luck or can the plane survive with the one engine? i know that it is a dangerous situation but still it would suck after being catapulted to 170mph in three seconds to have to bail as you hit the freezing ocean water 80 feet below. just a question answer at will. thanks for all responses.
 
One of my really good pals was a carrier-based Navy F/A-18 pilot, I'll have a "too much information, Doug!" answer for you in a few days.
 
I'll preface my post with the fact that I was never in the Navy. I have however logged a lot of time on the History and Military Channels.

I don't know if it's even possible to stabilize an aircraft with a flame out coming off the cat. Either way, bailing out would be risky, but probably better odds then stalling it into the drink.
 
Since I was deployed on an aircraft carrier for about a year and a half, I would have to say that I have no idea. An educated guess would tell me that it depends on the aircraft's weight. On a fully loaded aircraft (i.e., ordinance and fuel), the answer is probably no. On a light aircraft, probably yes. They do a pretty good full power runup before the cat shot, so I would think that anything that would go wrong during the t/o would probably go wrong then. But like I said, I really have no idea.
 
most multi engine aircraft especially those with such high power to weight ratios should be able to meet a positive climb gradient...military aircraft included...as long as they are above Vmcg/Vmca
 
jeskoe said:
Since I was deployed on an aircraft carrier for about a year .....They do a pretty good full power runup before the cat shot, so I would think that anything that would go wrong during the t/o would probably go wrong then. But like I said, I really have no idea.
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Ditto, served onboard the USS Ranger (CV-61) from '92-'93. I cannot recall that happening to any aircraft during my time there. The biggest thing for us was when some weapons fell off of an a/c on landing. Skidded across the deck and over the side..... :eek: The planes are running at full bore before the cat is launched.

Now when the prop jobs launch you'd swear they are going to skim the water after watching a jet climb out.
 
thanks to all that replied it was just a question to see if there were some dark stories that tax payers dont hear. it just seems that something like this is possible and that it could very well happen. thanks once again for all of the responses.
 
As was previously said, multi-engine military aircraft have a single engine climb requirement in their design just like everyone else.

If you lose an engine on the cat stroke, it's pretty much "gear, stores, step on the ball." That is, get the gear up, jettison the wing stores, and use the rudder to center the ball. Losing the stores instantly reduces our weight by several 1000 pounds. The cat stroke gets us up to about 20 knots over Vmca, so there is a little margin to work with.
 
I'll tell you what isn't pretty.

Shooting a cat shot with the cat steam riser valves shut! That plane made it into the air but boy was there hell to pay afterwards. I heard that the design of the cat accumulators are to provide enough steam for one stroke with the risers shut. From the flight deck recording, I'd say that is an extremely optimistic estimate. I bet the pilot about crapped himself.

Cat shots are really cool. I got COD'ed off and man that is like the hand of god grabbing you by the back and shoving you straight down for 2 seconds. The trap is pretty cool too but I swear the pilot was practicing dodging flak on the approach. Only time in my life i have been airsick. (Would help if they had real windows in the back)
 
I was at Norfolk back in 98 and the Truman (I think) was in the final stages of fitting out.

The really cool thing was watching them calibrate the catapults. They had test sleds loaded to various weights and would launch them into the bay.

Big splashes!
 
Witnessed a S-3B have an engine failure during the cat shot. This was back in 97 on the George Washington (CNV-73). That guy had no chance of getting in the air. Just kind of flew it into the water right in front of the boat. We were only abe to pull 3 of the 4 man crew out of the drink. Unable to locate the fourth.

We lost another S-3 on work-ups, but that was due to catapult misfire. Not enough pressure in the lines or something.
 
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