Mysterious death of co-pilot who fell or jumped out of plane before emergency landing

[idahospud]

Was up front, flew the single seat version F/A-18C then E.

Crazy thing about the carrier….,we’ve been doing it for years and it takes thousands of people all working together to make it work. Crushing atoms for power, making steam, navigation, food, bombs, fixing planes. Getting replenished from supply ship. By training hard, adhering to rules, etc…made the difficult look routine. We are still the only nation that can launch 75+ strike sorties a day off a ship, and continue to do it day in and day out. Lucky to be a part of….

Damn. My statement stands: bigger balls than me. You still fly or have you moved on to something respectable?

[Buzzworthy]

Was up front, flew the single seat version F/A-18C then E.

FKNA dude!

We all like to introduce you to the Trip Reports forum. TR for short.

Bring the stories, we’d absolutely love to hear em.

[jono]

Much respect for the carrier landings.

Some friends have a family member that's been in some sort of teaching role at Top Gun for a while. Apparently each year is mostly made up of pretty intense stuff--which he desperately looks forward to during the few weeks when it's time to prove he can still land on a carrier.

[subtle plague]

Was lucky to do this a bunch of times in a F/A-18. Flying during the day around the boat is the most amazing thing in the world.....flying at night at the carrier is absolutely horrifying. Darkest of dark you can ever imagine. Lots of pitching deck in the Pacific and Indian, usually not so much in the Atlantic. Would land at night, say midnight....Usually wouldn't be able to fall asleep till 3-4 AM due to my nerves having to calm.

There is this saying with Naval Carrier Aviation - "We own the night." My buddy always said "We can give it back."

Why didn't you use aquaseal to tape yourself to the carrier? I mean a pregnant waitress at IBM could have done it, right?

[AmmergauerTele]

Damn. My statement stands: bigger balls than me. You still fly or have you moved on to something respectable?

We practice quite a bit for landing at the carrier - also have the Landing Signal Officers on the edge of the carrier talking to you to ensure you aren't going to hit the back of the boat. Not a lot of hook clearance on a 3.5 degree glideslope and the prescribed touchdown point about 210 down the landing area from the end of the ship (think SOH-CAH-TOA so I guess TAN 3.5 = Opp/210). On the perfect prescribed glideslope the hook clears the end of the ship by a little more than 12 feet. Depending on the sea state - Factor in pitching deck, the boat heaving (bobbing up and down), getting out of sync with the back end of the carrier coming up, the 12 feet can disappear quickly, especially if you are a little low. Again, lots of training goes into this before you go do it by yourself. I still remember first time going out for a night trap....asking myself what am I doing here....launching off a perfectly good ship.

Done flying....help teach the "young kids" how to fly the Super Hornet as a contractor. Great gig.

That stuff they do out of Top Gun is quite impressive - pushing the tactics, how to fight the jet, in Fallon, NV....always game for trips to Tahoe on the weekend. Plus Squaw Valley was super cool in giving free tickets to active duty military.

It's a good time to be in Naval Aviation - post college go to Officer Candidate School, get a guaranteed pilot slot, go to flight school on the Navy's dime. Lots of good opportunity to fly cool planes, have a highly rewarding and challenging job, work with cool people, etc.

[old goat]

No more free tickets, You got out in time. (They do sell a very cheap Palisades only pass to military.)
About all those sorties--I recall that one reason the US won at Midway was how quickly they could rearm and relaunch the carrier planes. (Air and Space Museum again. My kids were much more interested in the WWII stuff than the NASA stuff.)

[Timberridge]

It's a good time to be in Naval Aviation - post college go to Officer Candidate School, get a guaranteed pilot slot, go to flight school on the Navy's dime. Lots of good opportunity to fly cool planes, have a highly rewarding and challenging job, work with cool people, etc.

It's the guaranteed pilot slot thing that's a bit iffy sometimes. I have two cousins who both went to AF Academy. One became an F4 pilot and the other flew B-52s. So heading off to college, I decide hey that's cool, but to be different I decide to apply to NROTC program. Some chap calls me up from Pensacola and tells me I'm accepted. Start going through the process for a few weeks and I start asking about how does one go about becoming a pilot? "Oh, we don't need pilots (seems after Top Gun Version 1 came out they were full up), so you'll probably end up on a submarine." Hell no. That was the beginning and end of my career in the Navy.

[SumJongGuy]

One of the many cool things we did in scouting was go stay at Patriot's Point on the USS Yorktown carrier. We got to play with the flight simulators there. Definitely more difficult than an ordinary video game. Kinda surreal sleeping in bunks in the same area where people died in battle. Thanks to all who sign up and show up. Just leave your politics aside while you're doing it please..

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

"My co-pilot just ran out the back of the plane"

https://soundcloud.com/user-390657974

[SumJongGuy]

"My co-pilot just ran out the back of the plane"

https://soundcloud.com/user-390657974

Glad my house is on the other side of RDU..

[XXX-er]

Why didn't you use aquaseal to tape yourself to the carrier? I ,mean a pregnant waitress at IBM could have done it, right?

no waitresses or secrataries at the mother corp shit got lean and mean in the early 90's ever buddy had to deal with their own stuff for at least he last 30 yrs

the big guy at IBM Canada tells us the anecdote of flying economy due to the business climate in the 90's ( we didn't make any money) some new canadians have their prayer carpets in the aisle hoping they are facing east so its very economy, so the guy in a skinny seat next to him asks what he does and the big guy sez he is in sales so the guy sez oh yeah i am in sales too what company ? Ceo sez yeah I'm the CEO of IBM and guy sez "wtf are you doing back here in the cattle section "

I don't remembr his name but I liked that guy, its important to be that guy people will work for

[Timberridge]

"My co-pilot just ran out the back of the plane"

https://soundcloud.com/user-390657974

I like how ATC is completely nonplussed about it..."ok heading 050"

Or maybe this shit happens all the time in Raleigh?

[billyk]

"My co-pilot just ran out the back of the plane"

https://soundcloud.com/user-390657974

Well, that’s pretty explicit. Maybe the copilot figured they were going to crash and burn on landing and preferred going out on his own terms?

[Mazderati]

I like how ATC is completely nonplussed about it..."ok heading 050"

The pilot sounds more irritated than surprised. Weird.

[billyk]

The pilot sounds more irritated than surprised. Weird.

Well, he still had to fly and land the plane. Kinda forces you to stay in the moment and not lose it.

[Mazderati]

I'm sure that's part of it. But he seemed particular annoyed at the thought of circling the area like he was going to be late for dinner. Extreme situation. Not bagging on the guy at all. Just wholly weird.

[SumJongGuy]

It's all going to revolve around what the fuck happened in Raeford when they wrecked the landing gear trying to land the plane there. I wanna hear the cockpit audio from that, and immediately after it..

[Ted Striker]

The pilot sounds more irritated than surprised. Weird.

My thought exactly.

[TBS]

^^^He was prolly thinking about all the paperwork he was gonna have to fill out…

[Ted Striker]

It's all going to revolve around what the fuck happened in Raeford when they wrecked the landing gear trying to land the plane there. I wanna hear the cockpit audio from that, and immediately after it..

It's very unlikely that the aircraft had CVR/FDR. It's just a small plane for recreational skydivers, and moving cargo around.

[Ted Striker]

^^^He was prolly thinking about all the paperwork he was gonna have to fill out…

[thinking] well there goes my chance of getting hired by a major

[Ted Striker]

I like how ATC is completely nonplussed about it..."ok heading 050"

Or maybe this shit happens all the time in Raleigh?

Pretty sure it was a misunderstanding. The aircraft was specifically designed as a jump plane and that company was apparently using it as such, so the controller probably thought he was wearing a chute.

It's just too fucking weird any other way.

[SumJongGuy]

It's very unlikely that the aircraft had CVR/FDR. It's just a small plane for recreational skydivers, and moving cargo around.

I suspected this but that's where/when shit went down that holds the key to all of this.. We're only going to get one side of the story. It would be nice to know if the auto pilot was engaged when he "just jumped out of the back of the plane"..

[old goat]

[thinking] well there goes my chance of getting hired by a major

I would think the airlines would hire anyone who could fly even a paper airline these days.

[idahospud]

[thinking] well there goes my chance of getting hired by a major

Welp, Mesa it is for him.