93
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Accepted
Has an airplane ever been launched from a submarine?
Yes,
The HMS M2 had a single seaplane aboard that it was capable of launching.
Her 12-inch gun was removed, replaced by a small aircraft hangar, the
work being completed in 1927. This could ...
- 102k
56
votes
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What do pilots landing on aircraft carriers do when the ship is not visible due to weather?
My experience is circa 1990s, but I can offer some perspective on US fixed wing operations.
Besides TACAN and ASR for non-precision approaches, there are (were) 3 precision instrument approach options ...
- 27.3k
46
votes
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Why are special aircraft used for the carriers in the United States Navy?
It's technical, not political
The F-35 was an attempt to do exactly what you propose, lowering costs by planned sharing of 80% of parts across variants, but it turns out that the USN's F-35C costs ...
- 27.9k
36
votes
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Slanted Brown Rectangles on Aircraft Carriers?
The rectangles are called impact pads. The ends of the arresting cable tend to snap back onto the deck after an aircraft catches it. The replaceable polyurethane pads protect the carrier deck from the ...
- 73.9k
34
votes
Does an aircraft carrier have a VOR onboard?
Aircraft carriers use a TACAN, which stands for Tactical Aid to Navigation. (The Navy is really good at making acronyms that don't follow normal conventions for abbreviation)
Functionally the TACAN ...
- 27.3k
33
votes
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Can a plane land on an aircraft carrier without support from its crew?
The Nimitz Class aircraft carriers are the largest warships ever built. With over 6,000 personnel (crew and aircrew), the carrier has a displacement of 102,000t, and a flight deck length of 332.9m.
...
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30
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Can a plane land on an aircraft carrier without support from its crew?
Most carrier-borne aircraft can't: they need (at a minimum) the arrestor wire system to be functional and set to the correct weight.
As jwenting said, smaller aircraft may be able to. A C-130 ...
- 10.3k
28
votes
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How do aircraft on the deck of a moving aircraft carrier align their INS/IRS?
The aircraft carrier has its own inertial navigation system, (SINS - Ship's Inertial Navigation System) and this information is transmitted to each individual aircraft INS by either cable or datalink.
...
- 27.3k
28
votes
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What is the purpose of the arrow on the flightdeck of USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
That’s a deck launch arrow.
As shown above with the Harriers and prior to the 1990s, certain aircraft were permitted to deck launch under their own power, under certain weight and loadout restrictions,...
- 75.1k
26
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Has an airplane ever been launched from a submarine?
Also consider the Japanese I-400 class submarine, that carried three Aichi M6A Serian bombers. Probably the most advanced aircraft carrying submarines ever built.
They entered service too late to ...
- 8,817
25
votes
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Is a catapult takeoff safer than a normal takeoff?
On a carrier, a catapult takeoff is slightly safer than a ski jump takeoff. The catapult gives you extra energy, not much, about an extra 4 seconds of flight. With margins as tight as they are on a ...
- 30.5k
24
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Slanted Brown Rectangles on Aircraft Carriers?
Good answer by fooot already, but to add some detail, it isn't the cables themselves as much as this beefy steel "knuckle" connecting the more readily replacable cross-deck pendant to the ...
- 27.3k
22
votes
Can a plane land on an aircraft carrier without support from its crew?
All VTOL's (Vertial takeoff or landing) planes will be able to land on an abandoned carrier, as they need a vastly reduced runway; it would be a bit like landing a helicopter.
They will do so though ...
- 321
21
votes
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Why are these carrier aircraft landing with the canopy open?
Because it is the standard operating procedure, not only for this aircraft, but also for others. In the book U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Development of Shipborne Jet Fighters - 1943-1962, [Tommy H. ...
- 101k
21
votes
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What capabilities have been lost with the retirement of the F-14?
The F-14 wasn't just an air defense fighter. Any multirole would work for a carrier-on-carrier fight, winning through numbers and training. The F-14 was designed to counter a specific threat: Tu-16s ...
- 30.5k
20
votes
Accepted
Can an F-16 land on an aircraft carrier, at all?
The hook is for emergency use at airports that have Runway Arrestor Systems. Lots of non-naval fighters have arrestor hooks for that purpose.
Now, there is nothing stopping someone from landing an F-...
- 136k
20
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What is the purpose of the arrow on the flightdeck of USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
It is the marking showing takeoff direction for non-catapult, STOL type aircraft. Here you see a pair of Harriers directly aligned, with yellow shirt "shooters" in control.
- 21k
19
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Can a plane land on an aircraft carrier without support from its crew?
Depends what's on the deck
Carriers often stuff the deck with aircraft, or have the deck disrupted for other reasons. If the evacuation interrupted an evolution when the deck was cluttered or in ...
18
votes
Has an airplane ever been launched from a submarine?
If you allow "airplane" = "unmanned aircraft"...then, jets!
There was Regulus 1
Submarine testing was performed from 1947 to 1953 at the Navy's
facility at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, with USS ...
- 2,912
17
votes
Why are special aircraft used for the carriers in the United States Navy?
The YF-17 is the answer to your question. It is the predecessor to the F/A-18, and was designed as a land-based fighter. The YF-17 is much lighter than the F/A-18, because it does not need to carry ...
- 2,238
15
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Has an unauthorized civilian ever tried to land on an aircraft carrier?
I'm not exactly sure whether this counts, but I think the landing of South Vietnamese Air Force Major Buang-Ly on USS midway using a Cessna O-1 Bird_Dog comes pretty close.
Though Major Buang-Ly was ...
- 101k
15
votes
What is the typical sink rate during a well-executed carrier landing at the moment the main wheels touch the deck?
A lot. About 3-4 m/s (600-800 fpm). This is the speed at which 'normal' landing gear begin to break.
For carrier landings, there is no flare, so the touchdown speed equals to the sink rate on the ...
- 9,133
14
votes
What makes it so hard to land on an aircraft carrier?
First I would like to dispel the common misconception that the ship’s forward motion relative to the water requires the pilot to aim for a point forward of the intended point of landing. It does not. ...
- 27.3k
14
votes
In the old days, why didn't aircraft use simpler systems to land on a Carrier?
The benefit of a cable is that it's a mechanical means of arresting the aircraft. You either catch the cable and stop, or miss and go around. Aside from breakage and malfunction, there is no in-...
- 73.9k
14
votes
What do pilots landing on aircraft carriers do when the ship is not visible due to weather?
Although I can’t detail fixed wing operations at sea, many countries operating helicopters use an ELVA procedure, an Emergency Low Visibility Approach. Most vessels operating aircraft will have a ...
- 1,166
13
votes
Accepted
What is the benefit of a curved up flight deck?
Because the method of launching aircraft are completely different in these carriers. Carriers with ski-jump, initially designed for RN Harriers (as @Simon already has explained), requires that the ...
- 101k
13
votes
Has an airplane ever been launched from a submarine?
If a kite rather than an aircraft qualifies:
German U-boats used a towed autogyro to lift a lookout/pilot to a more advantageous altitude (about 120 m). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-...
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