Junior goes to sea

We tagged along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Thursday as he toured the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier performing war games about 80 miles off the coast of Jacksonville. Earnhardt's JR Motorsports Busch Series car, driven by Brad Keselowski, is sponsored by the Navy. So he gets to do cool stuff like this. Not even Budweiser could have been this fun, and this has more kick than Amp.

Above, a crewman secures the catapult mechanism to a recon aircraft as part of a 10-plane launch and recovery (landing) operation. It's impossible to grasp the violence of a carrier launch until seeing one up close, and then experiencing one personally, as we did in a so-called COD (Carrier On-Board Delivery) craft which delivered us from Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The force and sound of the engines is overwhelming. And it's a little unnerving when the pilot misses the arrestor cable, forcing another go-around. Did that, too.

As for the launch off the ship, passengers sit backwards in near darkness because there are just two windows in the back of the 15-person propeller plane. Five-point harnesses and "cranials,'' fabric and hard-shell helmets are worn with "horse collar" life preservers. They smell like dried nervous sweat. When the two airmen in the sparse back bay warn it is time to go, that the wings have been fixed down and the catapult secured, passengers brace hard, knees against the seat in front and arms crossed, to be thrown from zero to almost 150 mph in less than three seconds. Some crewmen described it as having sex during a car accident, some say it seems your eybeballs are about to pop out.

In both instances, imagine that feeling just before the rocking chair tips. Then imagine it lasting about five seconds ... at about a thousand times the intensity. Or being flung out of a catapult, which we kind of were.

In a word, it was exhilarating, and a once-in-a-life time experience for a civilian. Here is an audio file recorded inside the COD leading up to our launch. Near the end you can hear the crewmen signal for passengers to brace, then reactions. Amazingly, none audible are me. Maybe I wasn't breathing yet. But I was grinning. Perhaps Navy's slogan should be "Accelerate Your Innards'' instead of "Accelerate Your Life.''

Above: Earnhardt Jr. listening to sailors on the bridge describing the ship's navigational equipment.

Comments

[Roy A Eliasson]

Roy A Eliasson An aircraft catapult is a device used to launch aircraft from ships—in particular aircraft carriers—as a form of assisted take off. It consists of a track built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft.

Older aircraft did not have a tow bar integrated in the nose gear; instead, a metal framework called a catapult bridle was attached to the aircraft and the catapult shuttle. Roy A Eliasson The ramps at the catapult ends on older carriers were used to catch these frameworks so they could be reused; bridles have not been used on aircraft since the end of the Cold War and all carriers commissioned since then have not had the ramps. The last carrier commissioned with a Roy A Eliasson bridle catcher was USS Carl Vinson; starting with Theodore Roosevelt the ramps were deleted. USS Enterprise is the last operational carrier with the ramps still attached.

At launch, a release bar holds the aircraft in place as steam pressure builds up, then breaks (or "releases"; older models used a pin that sheared), freeing the piston to pull the aircraft along the deck at high speed. Within about four seconds, aircraft velocity plus apparent wind speed (ship's speed plus "natural" wind) will be sufficient to allow an aircraft to fly away, even after losing one engine
Roy A Eliasson

[Shirley J. Buttacavoli]

That is way too cool Brant. "Sounds" like a great experience.

And if that means you made it to Jax, I hope that means the Times is allowing you to travel a little farther north to Darlington.

Enjoy the weekend and thanks for the audio. Pretty damn cool.

[Shirley J. Buttacavoli]

Mr. Eliasson, thank you for your input. Very interesting.