Arrestor cable snap on an aircraft carrier

Jawgap

8 deck crew injured but good recovery by the pilot......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-EHwYOfY94

According to reports....

Eight sailors suffered a variety of injuries, including a fractured ankle, wrist, pelvis and legs. One sailor received skull and facial fractures while another suffered a possible traumatic brain injury.

Pat Dunne

Based on the in camera data it look like this incident happened back in March. Hopefully all have made a good recovery since.

ectoraige

The deck had just pitched up as the plane went over the edge, I wonder if it had been pitched down would they have made it. I guess not having the option to punch out makes Hawkeye landings that little bit spicier.

prinzeugen

Perfect carrier go around..

Go in at full power should it go peat tong.

ectoraige

prinzeugen wrote: »

Perfect carrier go around..

Go in at full power should it go peat tong.

Variable pitch props so they run at constant speed all the time, the instant thrust is available to the pilot by changing angle of attack.

The King of Dalriada

ectoraige wrote: »

Variable pitch props so they run at constant speed all the time, the instant thrust is available to the pilot by changing angle of attack.

Constant speed props.... Witchcraft, I tells ya.

Jawgap

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Based on the in camera data it look like this incident happened back in March. Hopefully all have made a good recovery since.

It was only released now because the navy completed it's investigation into the incident - it seems one of the below deck 'engines' that dampen or absorb the force of an aircraft catching the wire failed and that led to the aircraft snapping it.

Good example of why the pilots give it full whack when they hit the deck! Although in the aircraft it might have just felt like they'd missed the wire?

Growler!!!

Careful now! Full power landing is only used on the jets. It takes too much time for the engines to spool up.

The Hawkeyes and greyhound don't do this. With application of full power there is very little lag with the engines and a huge amount of air is forced over the flying surfaces by the props to give an instant performance boost.

The pilots showed great skill in not stalling, as the natural reaction would be to continue to pull back. I have to admit I was waiting for the splash. Interesting article on Reddit about the deck procedures used withe trap wire.

St. Leibowitz

Growler!!! wrote: »

Careful now! Full power landing is only used on the jets. It takes too much time for the engines to spool up.

The Hawkeyes and greyhound don't do this. With application of full power there is very little lag with the engines and a huge amount of air is forced over the flying surfaces by the props to give an instant performance boost.

Really. Didn't know that. I thought there would have been a lag with a turboprop too ... still has to spin up the spool I would have thought. I can see how there'd be a huge inertia there to be pulled in, but thought it's have been converted pretty quickly. Nice to know the facts.

gctest50

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

Really. Didn't know that. I thought there would have been a lag with a turboprop too ... still has to spin up the spool I would have thought. I can see how there'd be a huge inertia there to be pulled in, but thought it's have been converted pretty quickly. Nice to know the facts.

tiny little thing with lotsa horsepower

Stovepipe

I'd say as soon as the pilot felt the failure to decelerate, he shoved the throttles thru the panel, recited the "Oh, ****" checklist from memory and hoped that the carrier wouldn't run him down. he probably ordered a crew's worth of replacement underpants, when he was on the next approach...

ectoraige

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

Really. Didn't know that. I thought there would have been a lag with a turboprop too ... still has to spin up the spool I would have thought. I can see how there'd be a huge inertia there to be pulled in, but thought it's have been converted pretty quickly. Nice to know the facts.

I think the key characteristic isn't that it's a turboprop, it's that it's a constant-speed propeller. To increase thrust the pitch of the propeller blades are changed mechanically to increase airflow. Rotation speed never has to change. The Hawkeye was designed and built specifically for carrier ops. With a crew in the back rendering ejection nonviable, I guess they had to consider recovery performance in these kinds of situations.

Although I imagine the toughest design brief was designing a cockpit capable of accommodating the pilots' balls.

ElNino

From a Hawkeye mechanic on Reddit. Really amazing save by the pilots.

1) The aircraft did not go to full throttle as soon as it hit the deck. I know that many people assume this to be the case, and for jet-powered aircraft this is true. However, the instant thrust of the E-2/C-2's engines eliminate the need for this. The flight crew applied full power when it became evident the aircraft was not going to stop. This is about 30-40 feet shy of the aircraft departing the flight deck.
2) Between the point where the aircraft rolled off the end of the flight deck and when you are able to see it again, the aircrew had applied full power, raised the tailhook, set 30° of flaps (vice the normal 20°), and opened/locked both cockpit escape hatches. Likely without a single spoken word.
3) The aircraft recovered flight at an altitude of somewhere between 10 and 20 feet above the water.

FortySeven

I'm not surprised they opened the escape hatches. The smell in that cockpit must have been horrific.

Growler!!!

Growler!!! wrote: »

With application of full power there is very little lag with the engines and a huge amount of air is forced over the flying surfaces by the props to give an instant performance boost.

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

I thought there would have been a lag with a turboprop too ... still has to spin up the spool I would have thought.

Note I said there was very little lag. This characteristic has helped me twice in my turbo prop flying career. As a side note the type I'm training on now takes 6 seconds to spool from low idle to full TO/GA thrust.

ectoraige wrote: »

I think the key characteristic isn't that it's a turboprop, it's that it's a constant-speed propeller.

But nowadays you won't get a turboprop without a constant speed prop! Yes the constant speed hub will help but remove power and it will simply hit its fine pitch stops and wind down to a halt (unless there's a prop brake). With (quick) application of power again the blades will go to the best pitch to bite as much air as it needs under the conditions.