AIR WARRIORS: The Inside Store
of the Making of a Navy Pilot
From
The author, Douglas C. Waller, July 13,
1998: Flying with the Navy's Top Guns,
this is an adventure story about young
men and women learning to become Navy
carrier pilots. Movies such as "Top Gun"
and "An Officer And A Gentleman" have
glamorized the life of Navy pilots. Air
Warriors tells the real story with
real-life people who are now flying for
the Navy. It is a book for flying enthusiasts,
for anyone interested in the military,
and for students who want to know how
to become a Navy Top Gun.
For
two years, I followed different groups
of men and women through Navy pilot training.
I interviewed over 200 pilots. I watched
them plunge into water in simulated cockpits,
where upside down they had to unstrap
themselves and swim to the top to escape
drowning. I watched them take their first
solo flights. I watched them dive bomb
and fight in aerial dogfights. I watched
them land on carriers for the first time
during the day and night. To experience
what they were experiencing, I was able
to fly as a passenger on most every flight
they flew. Carrier pilot training is physically
and mentally demanding. Just imagine a
30-ton jet flying 140 miles per hour and
coming to a crashing halt on a rocking
steel runway 200 feet long. That type
of landing has to be carefully choreographed
like a ballet. If the jet is off by just
a few feet in the landing, the pilot can
end up in a fiery crash. That's why pilots
must have nerves of steel and a surgeon's
touch at the stick and throttles.
Or, take a catapult shot from an aircraft
carrier. In just two seconds, this multi-ton
jet goes from zero to 120 miles per hour.
The
g-force from this catshot is so great
it plasters you to the back of your seat.
It would cause my eyes to roll back so
I couldn't read the dials in the cockpit.
But in those two seconds, the pilot has
to decide if he has enough speed from
the catshot to begin flying. If he doesn't,
he has to eject off the bow and hope that
the ship doesn't run over him. What does
it take to become a carrier pilot? Mental
discipline is most important. There are
thousands of things you have to memorize
about the plane and flight procedures.
You have to be able to do several things
at once. Some student pilots will juggle
balls and recite flight rules as practice.
You have to be fast with your eyes, your
hands and even your fingers. Carrier pilots
have to practice special eye movements
so their eyes can dart from the outside
to various readings in their cockpit within
microseconds in order to absorb hundreds
of bits of information almost instantly.
A jet pilot almost has to be a pianist
with his fingers dancing over so many
switches and knobs. In fact, at the Naval
Academy some of the students who want
to become jet jockeys are told to go out
and buy a Gameboy to limber up their fingers.
From
The author, Douglas C. Waller, July 13,
1998: Flying with the Navy's Top Guns,
this is an adventure story about young
men and women learning to become Navy
carrier pilots. Movies such as "Top Gun"
and "An Officer And A Gentleman" have
glamorized the life of Navy pilots. Air
Warriors tells the real story with
real-life people who are now flying for
the Navy. It is a book for flying enthusiasts,
for anyone interested in the military,
and for students who want to know how
to become a Navy Top Gun. 
For
two years, I followed different groups
of men and women through Navy pilot training.
I interviewed over 200 pilots. I watched
them plunge into water in simulated cockpits,
where upside down they had to unstrap
themselves and swim to the top to escape
drowning. I watched them take their first
solo flights. I watched them dive bomb
and fight in aerial dogfights. I watched
them land on carriers for the first time
during the day and night. To experience
what they were experiencing, I was able
to fly as a passenger on most every flight
they flew. Carrier pilot training is physically
and mentally demanding. Just imagine a
30-ton jet flying 140 miles per hour and
coming to a crashing halt on a rocking
steel runway 200 feet long. That type
of landing has to be carefully choreographed
like a ballet. If the jet is off by just
a few feet in the landing, the pilot can
end up in a fiery crash. That's why pilots
must have nerves of steel and a surgeon's
touch at the stick and throttles. 
The
g-force from this catshot is so great
it plasters you to the back of your seat.
It would cause my eyes to roll back so
I couldn't read the dials in the cockpit.
But in those two seconds, the pilot has
to decide if he has enough speed from
the catshot to begin flying. If he doesn't,
he has to eject off the bow and hope that
the ship doesn't run over him. What does
it take to become a carrier pilot? Mental
discipline is most important. There are
thousands of things you have to memorize
about the plane and flight procedures.
You have to be able to do several things
at once. Some student pilots will juggle
balls and recite flight rules as practice.
You have to be fast with your eyes, your
hands and even your fingers. Carrier pilots
have to practice special eye movements
so their eyes can dart from the outside
to various readings in their cockpit within
microseconds in order to absorb hundreds
of bits of information almost instantly.
A jet pilot almost has to be a pianist
with his fingers dancing over so many
switches and knobs. In fact, at the Naval
Academy some of the students who want
to become jet jockeys are told to go out
and buy a Gameboy to limber up their fingers.
