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Questions on catapult officer

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burner12:
I have been watching a lot of clips of flight deck action for the past 22yrs now. And understand most commands, but 1 don't understand is once control of the aircraft is handed over to the cat officer and he tells the pilot to go to full military power by moving his fingers back and forth he then points down the deck, at the gear, and at the green shirt who presses the button. What is he telling the pilot then , right before he touches the deck?

Here is a good example &feature=related from 1:20-1:23

SpazSinbad:
This flamboyant Catapult Officer is checking the cat foul line fore and aft and slightly waving his hands to help spin around before touching the deck. The CAT O is in charge of the catapult but not in charge of the aircraft. The Pilot is in charge of his aircraft but wisely follows directions of the yellow shirts on deck. Touching the deck is the ultimate command that cannot be uncommanded because then the cat chap presses the FIRE button with a slight delay before firing (because he has his routine that ultimately might stop the launch - but the CAT O has already finessed that - unless there is an absolute last second hitch with the catapult). That is my take on it.

The Catapult Officer winds up the aircraft to full power (burner or not). Pilot does his checks and then salutes Cat O (who whilst continuing to wind up aircraft seems to return salute). Cat O does his last second check of the cat foul line and then sends 'em on their way.  ::)

As you might imagine on a busy deck with another catapult nearby there might be debris or personnel across the foul line for whatever reason. Checking before launch is a good thing to do. There would be official narratives in various PDFs mentioned already on this forum and probably some here would have more personal knowledge of USN procedures.

burner12:
So Spaz you are sayingthat when he points down the deck at the gear and at the green shirt he is signaling the pilot that all is clear of FOD, and they can proceed with the final launch, correct? But why check the green shirt and gear? I understand the deck.

micro:
He's pointing so that everyone  can tell he is indeed checking the areas that he has to before the launch. This way other people (pilot, checkers, cat crew) can all confirm that he did his job.

Also, its actually the Director and not the Cat Officer that gives the pilot the signal to go to military power. He then hands control over to the Cat Officer. 1:16

If there is a need to go into burner, the Cat Officer will give the pilot that signal before launching him. &feature=fvsr 0:16

SpazSinbad:
burner12, I'm not understanding your question about the specific Hornet catapult. Probably there is an official account of how a Hornet is launched somewhere. I'll look at the video again to try to understand what you are asking.

As microbrewst points out the Cat O does stuff 'for show'. His actions 'show' that he is checking the cat track fore and aft so that it is clear before final launch signal. Individual Cat Os seem to have variations on 'their dance' how they do things but for sure they all follow a strict protocol so that it is clear to everyone - including the pilot - what is going on. Having seen a few videos of USN launches I would be cackling at some of their antics in the past. Poor guys must get bored.  ;D

Perhaps by pointing at the green shirt departing the scene the Cat O is showing that yes he has seen this green shirt and he is getting out of the way. Is that what you mean?

Catapult Launch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_United_States_Navy_carrier_air_operations

"Hookup Man" ensures that aircraft launchbar (left) and holdback fitting (right) are properly seated in the catapult.

"Catapult hook up is accomplished by placing the aircraft launch bar, which is attached to the front of the aircraft’s nose landing gear, into the catapult shuttle (which is attached to the catapult gear under the flight deck). An additional bar, the holdback, is connected from the rear of the nose landing gear to the carrier deck. The holdback fitting keeps the aircraft from moving forward prior to catapult firing. In final preparation for launch, a series of events happens in rapid succession, indicated by hand/light signals:
The catapult is put into “tension” whereby all the “slack” is taken out of the system with steam.
Simultaneously, the pilot advances the throttles to full (or “military”) power and takes his feet off the brakes. The holdback fitting (mentioned above) keeps the aircraft from moving forward.
The pilot checks engine instruments and “wipes out” (moves) all the control surfaces.
The pilot indicates that he is satisfied that his aircraft is ready for flight by smartly saluting the Catapult Officer. At night, he turns on the aircraft’s exterior lights to indicate he is ready.
During this time, two or more Final Checkers are observing the exterior of the aircraft for proper flight control movement, engine response, panel security and leaks.
Once satisfied, the Checkers give a thumbs up to the Cat Officer.
The Cat Officer makes a final check of catapult settings, wind, etc. and gives the signal to launch.
The catapult operator then pushes a button firing the catapult.
Once the catapult fires, the hold-back breaks free as the shuttle moves rapidly forward, dragging the aircraft by the launch bar. The aircraft accelerates from zero (relative to the carrier deck) to approximately 150 knots in about 2 seconds. There is typically wind (natural or ship motion generated) over the flight deck, giving the aircraft additional lift."

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