Wow, we had one slide into another on Connie once. During Iraqi Freedom, the deck on Connie from the 4 wire back was bare metal by the time the war started. Never saw a slide like that, but we had plenty of fishtailing and a couple of fender benders that you end up running from so you are not hit. We did have one of our S-3s slide off the deck after a landing. I was about 20 feet from it when the seats went. I was Flight Deck Coordinator and was looking for a thumbs up from the COTAC and they just slid away from me, most helpless feeling I ever had on deck. The hit the scupper then BOOM BOOM! The seats went up, I was able to see one of the crew separate from his seat, then big chunks of burning debris and such was falling around us. Seat pyrotechnics I guess, I remember thinking "I hope that seat doesn't hit me. Then it was over, they were in the water and the SAR bird was picking them up. Scary stuff, the flight deck is dangerous enough as it is. Those are the moments when you go below, lay in your rack and shake a bit when you realize how close you came to getting killed that day. LOL, I'd go back in a heartbeat! Well maybe not the slick deck part.
Seen many videos of carrier 'mishaps'...don't recall ever seeing anything like that. Any background on just what happened there?
Found this by chance don't know details, my guess a slick deck, worn non-skid, and high tempo ops.
Makes sense to me..."turn into the skid" probably doesn't work. 🙁
Wow, we had one slide into another on Connie once. During Iraqi Freedom, the deck on Connie from the 4 wire back was bare metal by the time the war started. Never saw a slide like that, but we had plenty of fishtailing and a couple of fender benders that you end up running from so you are not hit. We did have one of our S-3s slide off the deck after a landing. I was about 20 feet from it when the seats went. I was Flight Deck Coordinator and was looking for a thumbs up from the COTAC and they just slid away from me, most helpless feeling I ever had on deck. The hit the scupper then BOOM BOOM! The seats went up, I was able to see one of the crew separate from his seat, then big chunks of burning debris and such was falling around us. Seat pyrotechnics I guess, I remember thinking "I hope that seat doesn't hit me. Then it was over, they were in the water and the SAR bird was picking them up. Scary stuff, the flight deck is dangerous enough as it is. Those are the moments when you go below, lay in your rack and shake a bit when you realize how close you came to getting killed that day. LOL, I'd go back in a heartbeat! Well maybe not the slick deck part.
Never seen anything like it - Fabulous and Terrifying piece of film!
very lucky the damage was so minimal...could still hurt peoples careers