Combat aircraft

Bottom left to

right: Students

pound the circuit

at their home

station prior

to going to the

boat — this is

often referred

to as ‘bouncing’.

Rich Cooper

Hook down and

coming aboard

— a T-45C

approaches the

 ight deck of the

USS Dwight D.

Eisenhower (CVN

69). US Navy/

Zach Sleeper

A T-45C is

marshaled on to

the catapult for

launching from

the Eisenhower

during student

CQs. US Navy/

MCS3C Nathan T.

Beard

curve is through the roof — it’s about to

get into the home stretch.

‘The strike stage will follow, allowing

the students to learn fundamental air-

to-ground weapon delivery procedures,

undertaken at Meridian and at El Centro.

They’ll learn the pattern, comms, targeting

mechanics, dive angles and target

depression angles, employing the blue

Mk76 practice bombs and constantly

computed impact point [CCIP] computer-

aided bombing. Undertaking training in

the desert at El Centro is so useful — the

weapons phase might take you three or

four days versus six weeks of weather

windows here [at Meridian].’

Three night formation  ights are

undertaken to instruct the students on

two-ship night formation  ying. The

advanced strike students then progress

to 12 basic  ghter maneuvering (BFM)

and four section-engaged maneuvering

(SEM)  ights designed to teach basic ACM.

‘It’s pretty scripted,’ says Kellgren. ‘But

the aircrews will be able to demonstrate

some artistic license, cushioned by safety

roadblocks. We give them rope, but not

enough to hang themselves by.’

All eyes on the deck

Up to this point in the course, there has

been a degree of  exibility regarding

when the phases are conducted, a bit like

a giant jigsaw puzzle with interchangeable

parts. However, when it comes to the

carrier this changes. They’re going into

the CQ stage with an LSO preparing them

for their  rst arrested landing on the

boat. ‘The CQ phase is the biggest focus’,

Kellgren describes. ‘It’s where you function

as a naval aviator. It’s real, it’s there and it’s

going to happen. Whereas with BFM, for

example, it’s a more scripted a air.’

CQ is a phase that will set these students

apart from other pilots around the world

The students go into CQ lockdown. ‘They

detach out to [NAS] Jacksonville and start

some pretty huge brie ngs. It’s a case of,

‘all right, guys this is it. You’re going to land

on an aircraft carrier’. They’ll get schooled

in  ight deck and catapult procedures

before heading out. They all have the

same wide-eyed look. They’re nervous

and they  nd themselves getting acutely

focused on survival. They’ve got to trust

the system, the rules they’ve learned. We

aren’t going to sign o on anyone that we

don’t think can do this. If there were any

unsafe guys we’d catch them at the  eld.

I felt it became doable on my fourth or

 fth  ight — that’s when I found myself

focusing on di erent things rather than

just surviving. They’re going to be solo in

the cockpit and everything is done at the

 eld to get them ready. The skipper and

LSO have to sign them o to say that they

are safe to start CQ.’

Kellgren recalls his  rst CQs. ‘I wanted to

throw up. There’s a nuclear aircraft carrier

down there and I’ve got to do my job.

There have been so many  eld landings

and so much preparation that you just

UNIT REPORT | TRAINING AIR WING ONE

http://www.combataircraft.net January 2018

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80-87 T45 pt2 C.indd 86 23/11/2017 11:48