Carrier Landing Practice ("CQ")

US Navy Photos

A big part of what we do when out to sea these days is support "CQ" Carrier Qualification or landing practice for the aircrew. We've just finished up with a couple of our tactical squadrons (F/A-18 Hornets) and as I write this the training command is qualifying some of the Navy's newest aviators in the T-45 Goshawk. I can't claim much first hand knowledge since I've only even been a passenger for a couple hundred of these landings but the Navy has studies that show that this evolution (especially in bad weather at night) is more stressful for our pilots than actual air-to-air combat. We practice this often and that makes us the best in the world (much better than those Air Force guys!).

High Speed Turns!

(US Navy Photos)

We’re underway again (you’ll hear a lot of that over the next year). We’re doing some more tests of the ships systems: we tried, but just couldn’t get her to roll over (actually that’s what a 97,000 ton boat looks like in a high speed turn!). We’re all looking forward to getting some real airplanes on the flight deck – a new aircraft carrier just doesn’t look complete without 70+ warplanes onboard!

A New Mission

It was probably just a matter of time until the Navy found me and sent me back out to sea (in retrospect, the Pentagon was a poor choice of hiding places). All joking aside, I've now left the Joint Staff and joined the crew of our newest Aircraft Carrier, the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77). Aircraft Carriers are amazing ships and this one is no exception. We've just pulled out of the Newport News shipyard and are putting her through initial sea trials and aircraft landing practice.

Here are a few stats about this awesome warship:

- Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, VA.
- Unit Cost: About $4.5 billion each.
- Length: 1,092 feet (332.85 meters): nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall
- Towers 20 stories above the waterline with a 4.5-acre flight deck
- Beam: 134 feet (40.84 meters); Flight Deck Width: 252 feet (76.8 meters).
- Displacement: Approximately 97,000 tons (87,996.9 metric tons) full load.
- Propulsion: Two nuclear reactors, four shafts.
- Four bronze propellers, each 21 feet across and weighing more than 30 tons
- Steering accomplished by two rudders, each 29 feet by 22 feet and weighing 50 tons
- Speed: 30+ knots (34.5+ miles per hour).
- Crew: Home to about 6,000 Navy personnel
- Four high speed aircraft elevators, each more than 4,000 square feet, bring planes to the flight deck from the hangar below
- Enough food and supplies to operate for 90 days: 18,150 meals served daily
- Distillation plants providing 400,000 gallons of fresh water from sea water daily, enough for 2,000 homes
- Nearly 30,000 light fixtures and 1,600 miles of cable and wiring 1,400 telephones, 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets

The obvious downside to this adventurous job is the time away from home. Over the next 2 years I'll be spending a lot of time at sea, as we train the crew and eventually deploy to the Persian Gulf. Thankfully we now have email and internet access at sea so I can keep in touch with Michelle and our little man.