{"id":3299,"date":"2021-01-26T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azadkinsiii.com\/blog\/?p=3299"},"modified":"2021-10-13T13:31:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T17:31:28","slug":"67-flight-ops-a-day-in-the-life-of-crash-salvage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azadkinsiii.com\/blog\/67-flight-ops-a-day-in-the-life-of-crash-salvage\/","title":{"rendered":"#67\u2014Flight Ops: A Day in the Life of Crash & Salvage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Who said, \u201cExperience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward\u201d<\/em>?<\/li>
  2. In what movie (and who said it) did we hear, \u201cUnless we\u2019re parked in San Diego Bay, you\u2019re at war every time you step on this boat.\u201d<\/em>?<\/li>
  3. In what song (and who sang it) did we hear the following?
    Oh, I could hide ‘neath the wings<\/em>
    Of the bluebird as she sings<\/em>
    The six o’clock alarm would never ring<\/em>
    But it rings, and I rise<\/em>
    Wipe the sleep out of my eyes<\/em>
    My shavin’ razor’s cold and it stings<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n
    <\/div>
    Blog #67 (Audio)<\/div><\/div>
    <\/div>

    Listen to the audio of this blog, read by Andy Adkins. Click the \u201cAudio<\/strong><\/em>\u201d button below.<\/p>\n<\/div>

    Published: <\/span>October 13, 2021<\/span><\/div>
    <\/div>Audio by Andy Adkins<\/a><\/div><\/form><\/span>4<\/span> Downloads<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
    <\/div>\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    I\u2019ve said it once and I\u2019ll say it again: working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and an unforgiving place to work. On the other hand, flight operations are challenging, rewarding, and an orchestrated performance you will never forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Most of us have seen the movie Top Gun<\/em><\/strong>\u2026 you know\u2026 the one starring Tom Cruise. There\u2019s another one coming out soon: Top Gun: Maverick<\/em><\/strong>. I\u2019m sure there are plenty of veterans who either love it or hate it (you can say that about every <\/em>movie). Nevertheless, there are some great flight deck action shots from the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I won\u2019t mince words. I like the first fifteen minutes the best. After that, well\u2026 it\u2019s Hollywoodized<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I mention this movie because it actually provides a brief introduction and context to those who\u2019ve never experienced flight operations aboard an aircraft carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My Home<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
    \"USS<\/a>
    USS Kitty Hawk<\/strong><\/em>, CV-63
    (Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    I worked in V-1 Division<\/strong> \/ Crash & Salvage<\/strong> aboard USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63<\/em><\/strong> from 1975 to 77 and made one six-month Westpac cruise in \u201975. I\u2019ve written about those experiences several times. My rating was an Aviation Boatswains Mate-Handler<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We had two jobs aboard a ship: one, an aircraft crash firefighter and two, an aircraft director, commonly called a \u201cYellow Shirt\u201d and a “Blue Shirt.” I worked both during my 2\u00bd years aboard Kitty Hawk<\/em> and absolutely loved it, primarily because I was where the action was: the flight deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Definitely NOT a 9-5 Job<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019m sure it\u2019s changed over the years, but during Westpac \u201975<\/a><\/strong>, our flight ops schedule usually began at 1000 hours and ran until midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We weren’t at war, but because the Vietnam War had “officially” ended a few months earlier, but we were still on high alert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Crash had to have 11 personnel on the flight deck during flight ops. However, we only had 14 in the entire unit. And\u2026 we also had to maintain a three-man night crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My good buddy Gary Borne<\/strong> (also with me at NAS Agana, Guam<\/strong>) enjoyed working the night shift. I didn\u2019t. Like me, he was a 3rd Class Petty Officer and crew chief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If memory serves, Gary took most of the night shifts. That was until we flew around-the-clock, which only occurred a few times during Westpac \u201875. Then we pretty much all <\/em>worked through those 36-hour shifts, grabbing sleep whenever and wherever we could; even in the cab of the Crash firetruck (in between flight ops cycles, of course).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Skittles<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Flight ops involved many<\/em> people with different jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Navy figured out a long time ago that since everyone looks alike on the flight deck, they assigned different colored jerseys with stenciled IDs to help identify who does what on the flight deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Because of these different colored jerseys, flight deck personnel are often called, \u201cSkittles,\u201d named after that disgusting hard shell candy manufactured by Mars. You know, those bright colored sugar candies first produced in the US in 1982. That was, of course, before my time; they didn’t exist when I served in the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But I digress\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    V-1 Division Colors<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Disclaimer: I’m not ignoring all the other divisions, squadrons, and personnel who worked on the flight deck; I simply don’t have enough room in this blog post to list out and describe all the different colored jerseys and the crew jobs. Perhaps I can do that in a future post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    During my time aboard Kitty Hawk<\/em>, the Air Department comprised five divisions: V-1 through V-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    V-1 jersey colors were Yellow <\/strong>(directors), Blue <\/strong>(handlers), and Red <\/strong>(crash). We were responsible for moving aircraft around the flight deck and spotting them on the catapult for launch. The flight deck is huge: 1000+ feet, bow to stern; 250+ feet, port to starboard–about 4 1\/2 acres. It\u2019s broken up in three areas, or \u201cFlys\u201d (Fly 1-bow; Fly 2-amid ships; Fly 3-stern) and each Yellow shirt was designated a sequential number for their area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    My Yellow Shirt (circa 1977)
    Yes, it (sorta) still fits
    (Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    For example, when I became a Yellow Shirt after the Bremerton Shipyards<\/a><\/strong>, I was Director #36, meaning #6 (no specific meaning) assigned to Fly 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Blue Shirts are under the direction of the Yellow Shirts. In fact, many Blue Shirts are eventually promoted to Yellow Shirts. That helps tremendously because they had “walked the walk and talked the talk.” Blue Shirts also worked closely with the squadron Plane Captains (Brown jerseys) to secure their aircraft to the flight deck by using tie-down chains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    FYI: “tie-down chains” are dastardly medieval devices that could maim you if you screwed up… but did a phenomenal job of keeping the aircraft secure. Normally, we’d use six tie-down chains per aircraft, but if there was a big blow (i.e., a typhoon like the one we skirted in the Sea of Japan<\/a>), we’d use 15 chains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    Crash & Salvage Jersey
    Presented to me by C&S crew, USS Ronald Reagan<\/em><\/strong>, CV-76
    (Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Blue Shirts also drove the tow tractors to move aircraft around the flight deck. There were a dozen or so tow tractors on the flight deck and a smaller number on the hangar deck. One designated Yellow Shirt was in charge of all the tractors and affectionately known as, \u201cTractor King.\u201d My good friend Dennis Mahon<\/strong> was Tractor King during a period of time aboard Kitty Hawk<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Crash & Salvage crew wore Red jerseys. That\u2019s where I spent most of my time while aboard Kitty Hawk<\/em> <\/strong>and during Westpac \u201875. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We drove the MB-5 Crash truck, the Crash tractors, wore the asbestos firefighting suits, drove the Crash crane (“Tilly\u201d), and the Crash forklift. We also knew how to harness up all the different aircraft to hoist with Tilly in the event of an aircraft crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How Many People on the Flight Deck?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Usually you\u2019d find about 200 people on the flight deck during flight ops (both ship\u2019s company as well as squadron personnel). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Back in my day, V-1 Division consisted of about 80 guys (we didn\u2019t have women aboard at that time). Most of us were between 18 and 20 years old. That\u2019s a lot of responsibility to place on \u201ckids,\u201d but we all had received (and continued) training for our jobs and as I\u2019ve said many times before\u2026 \u201cWe all signed on the dotted line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As I understand it, now there are about 160 men and <\/em>women in V-1 Division aboard today\u2019s Navy aircraft carriers. When I visited USS Ronald Reagan, CV-76<\/a><\/em><\/strong> on a \u201cfact finding\u201d mission to write my Navy<\/a> book, there were 26 sailors (men and women) in Crash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Flight Operations<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Flight operations were broken into discrete events, or \u201ccycles,\u201d usually dependent upon the fuel capacity of the aircraft that used the most fuel in the shortest amount of time. That makes sense to me. During Westpac \u201975, that would have been the F-4 Phantom<\/strong> (one of my all-time favorites). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"F-4<\/a>
    F-4 Phantom (VF-213 “Aardvarks”),
    USS Kitty Hawk<\/em>, CV-63
    Photo credit: Kenneth Cary
    (Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    From what I recall, the F-4 could stay in the air without refueling anywhere from thirty minutes to one and a half hours, depending upon the flight conditions and the mission (e.g., full afterburners versus cruise speed). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Using this as a guide, flight ops would allow for eight to ten cycles per day in a 12-hour flight schedule, each cycle lasting anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This will get slightly <\/em>complicated, so stay with me here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Events or “Cycles”<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Events (cycles) typically consisted of about 15-20 aircraft and were sequentially numbered throughout the day. Prior to flight ops, the aircraft were arranged (\u201cspotted\u201d) so that Cycle #1 aircraft could easily taxi to the catapults once they had been inspected and started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Once Cycle #1 aircraft launched\u2014which generally took about 15-20 minutes, depending on the number of catapults used\u2014we\u2019d ready Cycle #2 aircraft for launch about an hour later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After Cycle #2 aircraft launched, we\u2019d ready the deck (i.e., re-spot aircraft) to recover the aircraft launched during Cycle #1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Those aircraft recovered from the Cycle #1 would then be re-fueled, re-armed, re-spotted, and readied for Cycle #3. This sequence continued throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Clear as mud?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A Day in the Life of Crash<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    My day at sea started a little different than most. I was a DJ (Disc Jockey) on Kitty Hawk<\/em> (Station KRAL: “Country Chet Adkins<\/strong><\/em>“) and I had the 0600-0800 time slot. I wrote about shipboard entertainment in an earlier post<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After my radio show, I’d usually head to the mess hall for chow. My favorite was NOT “SOS<\/a>,” but bacon & eggs with toast (lots of bacon) and good ol’ black Navy coffee. I’d choke it down and make my way up to the flight deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Crash had to be on the flight deck an hour before flight ops and remain an hour after we stopped flying. Yep, it made for a long day, but that’s what we did. I honestly didn’t mind it. I mean, what else ya gonna do when your out in the middle of the ocean on a ship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We’d muster as a division on the flight deck to make sure everyone was present and accounted for, then head to our prospective areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For Crash, we’d perform PMS (Planned Maintenance Schedule) on the Crash equipment, then get into our positions for the first launch of the day. That means we’d have 4 Crash crew in the truck, and 2 Crash crew on each of two tractors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then, flight ops would begin and, for me, I’d be in hog heaven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019d Do It All Over Again<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    After working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier\u2014and have time to look back and reflect on that excitement\u2014I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever worked another job that offered as many challenges and<\/em> rewards, even when I worked as a City of Gainesville<\/a><\/strong> firefighter after I left the Navy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"F18<\/a>
    F18 Hornet launching off USS Ronald Reagan<\/em><\/strong>, CV-76 (2009)
    (Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The big difference for me was that action on the flight deck was always<\/em> constant and the adrenaline rush<\/a> was almost non-stop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sure there was danger lurking almost everywhere you turned. After a while, your head was constantly on a swivel and you not only watched where you <\/em>were going, you were also aware and watched out for your fellow shipmates<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I don\u2019t know about you, but my head is still constantly on a swivel, especially when I\u2019m out in crowds and\/or walking or riding my bike. It just stays with me\u2026 and I\u2019m not<\/em> complaining. It\u2019s a habit that helps keep me safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about in these challenging times. Stay safe, my friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Until we meet again,<\/em>
    Andy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n
    \"NEVER<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (\u201973-77) and the author of several books. His newest novel, NEVER FORGET, is the story of A Vietnam Veteran\u2019s Journey for Redemption & Forgiveness. NEVER FORGET is FREE (eBook, PDF) for all veterans. Download your FREE<\/strong> copy HERE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Previous posts mentioned in this blog:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n