Baby hawks being scared of a Butterfly

#TomcatTails Number 37 #TomcatTuesday “You’re Signal Divert. Miramar Bears 070° For 85 Miles” or “Weather Sucks; Go Home.” I’ve spent quite a few words talking about landing on an Aircraft Carrier (“the boat”), relating how it’s recognized as one of the most difficult feats in aviation. While daytime Carrier Ops can be quite fun when the weather is good and your jet’s operating normally (we called it “the sport of Kings” on those days), if you have system problems, or the sun sets, or the weather and sea state trend toward “varsity”, it can rapidly ratchet up from “fun” to “terrifying” pretty quickly. Most Naval Aviators have their “Night in the Barrel” story, meaning that ONE night they’ll never forget where all of the above distractions combined into a truly memorable, adrenaline-laced struggle to get the jet on deck safely while battling “snakes in the cockpit” as we would say. Dark no-moon-night, weather, heavy seas, and pitching deck can (and often do) make for supremely challenging conditions that test your mettle behind the boat. While Flight Pay was a nice little $-bump, I always said that Navy Pilots earned that year’s extra pay on that ONE pass. And when you factor in Blue Water Ops (too far from any land to go anywhere else), that calculus gets exponentially harder. Recall too, earlier discussions about the normal landing parameters aboard the ship. The landing area is about 700 feet long and 80 feet wide (Tomcat wingspan is 64 feet…..you got eight feet each side) and the arresting wires decelerate you to a full stop in about 320 feet (150mph to 0). The deck is angled to the left 10° so it’s moving away from you at an angle. If everything is perfect and you cross the back of the ship (“the ramp”) exactly on altitude, exactly on speed, exactly on glideslope (3.5°), and exactly on centerline, your tailhook passes over the ramp at about 14’, the body of your jet at about 19 feet. At 150mph. That’s it. If it sounds really challenging, that’s because it is. This one feat alone sets Carrier Pilots apart from all others. “But Corky. What if the weather is bad and the sea state is really wavy?” Well, then the deck starts to pitch, up and down, up and down. Deck pitch can be minor like 4-5 feet, or it can be really bad, like 15-20 feet. “But doesn’t that eat up any safety margin?” Yes. Yes it does. Factor in as well that along with deck pitch in heavy sea states, the Carrier will also roll a bit (or a lot), and also “heave” where the entire ship lifts up. One of the more interesting things about this cyclic movement is that every Carrier has a unique signature in heavy sea states. There are a variety of elements that form that signature. There are plunges, where the bow of the ship goes down (ramp comes up), rolls left and right based on direction of the swells, and often a little “shimmy” where the ass end will wiggle a bit. And all of these elements form that particular Carrier’s signature. What’s also interesting is that Carriers are so big, they’ll execute their signature series of movements, and then magically stabilize for some number of seconds (10, 20, 40…etc.) and smooth out…..and then start all over again. LSOs (Landing Signal Officers) are uniquely attuned to their boat and they know when that smooth part is coming so on a rough night they can determine if a jet on final is going to clear the ramp at the right moment in time (up, down, or steady) and not hit the back of the ship (ramp strike). If it looks too dicey or the timing is off for a particular jet, they can wave them off at the last moment so they come around and try again (thanks, Paddles!!!). This particular #TomcatTails is about that timing and how sometimes you just can’t make it work out. The year was 1994 and we were between cruises in the VF-24 Renegades out of Miramar. As often happens, a Carrier will head off the coast for CQ Ops (carrier qualification) primarily for training for the RAG students landing for the first time. It’s also training for the Carrier deck crews and everyone else on the boat too. And if there’s a chance to work in any fleet bubbas, the ship will offer it up and squadrons will go out to CQ just to get some off cycle practice. Such was our chance in January of that year. My logbook shows that it was January 19th, 1994 and the boat in question was the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), a boat I’d get MUCH more time on when I was stationed in Japan 1998-2000. It also shows that it was 2.6 hours of flight time, and I got 2 traps, 2 bolters (missed the wires) out of a total of 7 approaches. The Kitty Hawk’s signature (from what I recall) was kind of a plunge….plunge…..plunge…..a little shimmy……then she’d steady out for 30 seconds or so and then start all over again. The night in question was what we in the industry call “dog squeeze”. Dark, heavy overcast, rain, and a very difficult sea state, like maybe 10 to 12 foot swells. Naturally, as she was doing her dance the deck was pitching about 15 feet either way, so the timing would be critical to successfully landing (or “successfully not dying”). This "timing" by the way is not something you can affect. It is what it is on arrival. All you can do is react to it. And the sky conditions made for complete IFR approaches in the clouds (total blackness) and somewhere along the approach at a mile out you’d get under the clouds and see the ship in all here plunging and shimmying glory, landing area lights and centerline lights just a-wiggling all over the place. Neat. What made this night unusual was that most of the other jets had gotten sent home, and me and Trigger were the lone Tomcat in the pattern, trying to get aboard on multiple attempts. He and I flew together quite bit and made a great team. If anyone could have gotten any valid training out of those conditions, it would be us two. As we headed out to the boat, we had the distinct honor of checking into our approach frequency right when paddles was delivering a screaming power call to some unfortunate aircrew that were probably just a wee bit low on the glideslope as the deck was coming up. Nothing instills confidence like changing to the approach freq and hearing “POWER-POWER-POWER-WAVE-IT-OFF-WAVE-IT-OFF!!!!!!!!!” I’m sure Trigger and I joked “Well, this should be fun” as they told that guy to go home. We got our marshal instructions (radial, distance, and altitude to hold) and headed for it in the goo (clouds). We took one turn in the holding pattern and the boat came up and said “Your signal Charlie” which means “c’mon down and land.” We got settled into the Case 3 recovery, a 1,200 foot straight in until you hit about 1.2 miles and you started your decent approach based on instruments. I’d generally fly ILS (or “bullseye”) which was a glide slope needle and an azimuth needle on the primary attitude display. While all the Carriers also had ACLS (Automatic Carrier Landing System) which put needles on your display AND they could fly the jet for you, when the weather was especially sh*tty I’d opt for ILS. Reason being that if you set your switches for ACLS and it dropped lock on you, the needles went away. Naturally, that seemed to happen only when you were getting close to landing and were assholes and elbows flying the jet. And when it did, you had to switch hands (left on stick to fly the jet) and manually toggle over to ILS bullseye with your right, then switch hands back. Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take ILS for the win here. While I can’t recall the order of events throughout the 7 approaches, I can VERY specifically recall the LAST one that I’ll get to in a few paragraphs. Our first look at the boat was about what we expected. We came out of the clouds at about 1 mile and sure enough the Kitty was doing her dance. Interesting to note as well that the visual landing aide (the “ball”) system was gyro stabilized to a certain extent, meaning that the ship could move around some and it would still give you correct glide slop information. Up to a point. And that point was about 10 or 12 feet (any Paddles here to confirm?). Our first look seemed relatively OK, and we continued the approach but you could definitely see the deck was moving pretty good. We crossed the ramp a little high and a little fast as it was dropping and boltered (missed the wires). Paddles called out “Bolter, bolter, bolter….hook skip”, meaning it wasn’t our fault for grading purposes. Made sense given the conditions. We got back in the pattern and came back around for another try and got a trap. Cool. So it’s actually possible. While on the deck and taxiing to the catapult, Trigger and I talked back and forth about the obvious motion on the deck and remarking about how being the “sacrificial Tomcat” was always so fun. This meant the ship would work a Tomcat longer than anyone else because we had the legs (gas) to stick with it longer than most. That’s a blessing and a curse, as you may expect. We banged off Cat 1 and back into the dog squeeze weather for some more fun, coming back around for pass # 3. As we broke out of the clouds, the deck was moving pretty good again and we pressed the approach to the in-the-middle position when Paddles called “Wave it off….pitching deck”, indicating that the wave off wasn’t due to pilot technique. These “sugar calls” are important for the Pilot and RIO so we can keep our heads in the game. Basically, “you’re doing fine, keep it up.” After another 3 tries in which we got a bolter, a trap, and another pitching-deck-wave off, we were getting a little skosh on gas (/skōSH/ or “low”) we figured we had one more to go. This was the memorable one. We came around the pattern, hit our final bearing and cruised in for one more. I didn’t really notice if the sea state was getting worse but apparently it had been deteriorating from bad to holy-crap. As we broke out at one mile, I noticed that I couldn’t see the ball. I immediately called “CLARA” which tells the LSO I can’t see a ball on the lens. Paddles comes back with “Deck is down, you’re looking good.” And then I looked. At the deck. First rule in Carrier Aviation is NEVER look at the deck on the whole. Look at the ball, look at the centerline, and look at your speed. Meatball, lineup, angle of attack. Over and over and make the appropriate corrections to keep those centered, on lineup, and on speed respectively. But you NEVER focus right on the deck. You’ll just scare the sh*t out of yourself, which I did. My memory can literally SEE the deck being WAY down and my mind tells me I could literally count the arresting wires because they were SO visible, almost as if I was looking straight down at the flight deck. “Oh look. One, two, three, and four wires” followed by “Oh shit, I’m not supposed to be able to see that.” Paddles then said “hold what you got”, meaning do NOT chase the ball downward by pulling some power. That would be ramp-strike-territory. OK, Paddles. I’ll see your “hold what you got” and raise you just a teeny bit of extra power ("for mom and the kids" as we used to say) n order to avoid ending up as a flaming fireball in the jet shop on the back of the boat. And then the deck came up. WAY up. The memory in my head recalls that I saw the top of the screws of the boat come out of the water. The. Screws. I’m just outside the in-the-middle phase, about 15 seconds from landing and my eyes have lost all discipline as I’m staring at the water being roiled up by these massive screws on the ol’ Kitty. Gulp. My mind could be filling that picture in a bit, but I don’t think so. It was at once an awe-inspiring spectacle at the sight of it, and a shot of cold piss to the heart (maximum fear inducing). Paddles must have sensed that huge pitch because he hit the wave off lights right after his call. Honestly, I think I was probably already on the way there recognizing that a safe landing here was not in the cards on this pass. The funniest part here is when we’re waving off, Trigger says something like “WTF, man? Why the waveoff??” I came back with “Uh, no. That was good one, a good idea.” He knew right then that if his buddy Corky is thankful for a wave off, then it sure must have been a doozy of a sight picture. We got the “Your signal divert; Miramar bears 070° for 85 miles” call and headed home. We landed, and then went to the O’Club for the debrief and I described that final sight picture in detail. Conveniently, it was a Wednesday night at the Miramar O’Club so a good time was had by all. Unsurprisingly, our wives had to come get us that night. For all my Hook brethren and sistren out there; ain’t night carrier ops grand????

Mike Gallagher, the 8th most recognized talk radio personality, in the U.S.A., is heard by over 2.25 million listeners weekly. He compiled and wrote the following essay entitled, "Obama: It was You." * It was you who spoke these words at an Islamic dinner - "I am one of you." * It was you who on ABC News referenced - "My Muslim faith." * It was you who gave $100 million in U.S. taxpayer funds to rebuild foreign mosques. * It was you who wrote that in the event of a conflict- "I will stand with the Muslims." * It was you who assured the Egyptian Foreign Minister that - "I am a Muslim." * It was you who bowed in submission before the Saudi King. * It was you who sat for 20 years in a Liberation Theology Church condemning America and professing Marxism. * It was you who exempted Muslims from penalties under Obamacare that the rest of us have to pay. * It was you who purposefully omitted - "endowed by our Creator " - from your recitation of The Declaration Of Independence. * It was you who mocked the Bible and Jesus Christ's Sermon On The Mount while repeatedly referring to the 'HOLY' Qur'an. * It was you who traveled the Islamic world denigrating the United States Of America. * It was you who instantly threw the support of your administration behind the building of the Ground Zero Victory mosque overlooking the hallowed crater of the World Trade Center. * It was you who refused to attend the National Prayer Breakfast, but hastened to host an Islamic prayer breakfast at the White House * It was you who ordered Georgetown Univ. and Notre Dame to shroud all vestiges of Jesus Christ BEFORE you would agree to go there to speak, but in contrast, you have NEVER requested the mosques you have visited to adjust their decor. * It was you who appointed anti-Christian fanatics to your Czar Corps. * It was you who appointed rabid Islamists to Homeland Security. * It was you who said that NASA's "foremost mission" was an outreach to Muslim communities. * It was you who as an Illinois Senator was the ONLY individual who would speak in favor of infanticide. * It was you who was the first President not to give a Christmas Greeting from the White House, and went so far as to hang photos of Chairman Mao on the White House tree. * It was you who curtailed the military tribunals of all Islamic terrorists. * It was you who refused to condemn the Ft. Hood killer as an Islamic terrorist. * It is you who has refused to speak-out concerning the horrific executions of women throughout the Muslim culture, but yet, have submitted Arizona to the UN for investigation of hypothetical human-rights abuses. * It was you who when queried in India refused to acknowledge the true extent of radical global Jihadists, and instead profusely praised Islam in a country that is 82% Hindu and the victim of numerous Islamic terrorists assaults. * It was you who funneled $900 Million in U.S. taxpayer dollars to Hamas. * It was you who ordered the United States Postal Service to honor the MUSLIM holiday with a new commemorative stamp. * It was you who directed our UK Embassy to conduct outreach to help "empower" the British Muslim community. * It was you who funded mandatory Arabic language and culture studies in Grammar schools across our country. * It is you who follows the Muslim custom of not wearing any form of jewelry during Ramadan. * It is you who departs for Hawaii over the Christmas season so as to avoid past criticism for NOT participating in seasonal White House religious events. * It was you who was uncharacteristically quick to join the chorus of the Muslim Brotherhood to depose Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, formerly America's strongest ally in North Africa; but, remain muted in your non-response to the Brotherhood led slaughter of Egyptian Christians. * It was you who appointed your chief adviser, Valerie Jarrett, an Iranian, who is a member of the Muslim Sisterhood, an off-shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was you the whole time who ushered in this mess were in

Look at this bullshit! TMZ tried the same shit right before the 2024 elections. Standby for a stupendous Trump lawsuit. Garbage. 👇👇👇

A super PAC called Elon 2028 has filed with the FEC, pushing to amend the Constitution so a naturalized citizen could run for president. That takes two thirds of Congress and three quarters of the states. Long shot? Sure. Would you back that amendment for Elon?

This is one of the most shocking drops yet. Coordination with foreign powers to overthrow our government? Shockingly awful. Having said that, I'd like to correct something I said on a Spaces where I commented that organizing with a foreign power to overthrow our government is "the very definition of treason." I did some legal research and that's not quite true. The federal law governing this is 18 U.S. Code § 2381, which reads as follows: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States." The question then becomes, what is an "enemy" that must be "adhere[d]" to in order for it to be treason? Like with most complex issues of law, there is not a 100% straightforward answer, but an 1863 SCOTUS case, U.S. v. Greathouse, suggests that an "enemy" in this context must be in an open state of armed conflict with the U.S. for a nation to be an "enemy." So, technically, the Color Revolution plotters are likely not legally committing "treason" unless they are coordinating with Iran, the only nation we are currently in armed conflict with. (And they may well be, who knows!) Sedition, OTOH? 😯

Do not listen to polling… you never did before. They said Hillary would win in a landslide. She didn’t. And definitely don’t listen to polling from betting websites… that’s just stupid. Get out and vote Republican down the ticket, because the communists are all Democrats. Only you can prevent communism.

A superpod, near San Diego, California.

It’s true…

#TomcatTails Number 87 #TomcatTuesday “Opportunity of a Lifetime” During my career flying the Tomcat, I had the wonderful opportunity to take deserving Sailors for a ride in The Big Fighter. These Sailors had typically distinguished themselves by going well above and beyond and performing their duties in a “highly exemplary manner.” Military pilots have a unique relationship with the men and women that maintain their trusty steeds characterized by gratitude for the endlessly hard work required and the trust we have that they do the right thing, all the time and every time. A chance to take one of these deserving maintainers was always a true honor for me. And in that light, of the half dozen or so I did (3 off the boat!), my key focus was to make the flight as enjoyable and fun as the Sailor wanted. There are some pilots who try and be the tough guy and black them out with high G or make them puke, and I always thought that was a totally douche move. I mean, this kid is having a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one he will talk about forever and tell his grandkids about. Why on earth would you want to cheapen it with tough-guy antics? The beauty of the flight for me was that there was no mission attached to it; just a “day dick-around” as I’ve talked about before. “Here’s a Tomcat with a full bag of gas. Take it flying, do whatever you want, and bring it back in one piece.” Yes, SIR!!! For a Sailor flight, we’d brief up in the Ready Room with a RIO that was going to help start the jet, then help strap him in. We’d talk about what we’re going to do, discuss safety procedures, and what not to touch in the cockpit. There was plenty of the latter. You’ve all seen photos of the convertible Tomcat where the guest rider in the back inadvertently ejected himself; no repeats of that, please. And key for me in the brief was to relate to the Sailor that this is YOUR flight. We’ll do whatever you want and can tolerate. If that’s a 20,000 foot level sightseeing tour of the area or the ocean (off the boat), we’ll do that. Or if it’s an hour of full aerobatics or rooting around on the deck on a high G low-level, we can do that too. I wanted this to be a core memory for the Sailor; not a puke fest. And I had the full range of the above on the times I got to fly a Sailor. For one off the boat, it was a beautiful day in the Western Pacific with plenty of puffy clouds to surf and this Sailor had no problem with air sickness. We shot off Cat 3 and then spent his hour cloud surfing like we were doing a low level, through “mountains” and “valleys” (that couldn’t kill you!). Then we came back to the boat for the trap. He was literally over the moon in the Ready Room afterwards. Mission accomplished. On another flight, the Sailor was very nervous and really didn’t like flying but he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. Can’t blame him, right? This one was out of Miramar, so launched and hit a decent VFR cruising altitude then proceeded to head north and sight see over the California coast. We flew over LA (yuck), then Malibu, Ventura, Santa Barbara, then the beautiful Central Coast areas (Morro Bay, San Louis Obispo), then onward to Big Sur and Monterey. This is some of the most glorious scenery in the world and he got an eyeful the whole time, asking questions about the terrain. We then turned around but came South via the Central Valley, taking in Fresno, Bakersfield, and the stunning desert scenery east of LA and San Diego. We even did a long straight in approach back to Miramar so he could look around the local area and wasn’t interested in high Gs. Again, mission accomplished. There was ONE thing I’d do to screw with the Sailors a little bit. Most wanted to go supersonic, which I happily obliged. Going faster than the speed of sound is on a lot of bucket lists. So on the flight we’d set up for the SS run and talk about what we’re about to experience. Then I’d ask “Have you ever heard of the speed of heat?” Naturally, they’d say no because that’s not really a thing. So as we started the SS run, as we got to 350 knots, I’d reach down and start increasing the air temperature in the cockpit (pilot had the “thermostat”). And as we got to about 500 knots, I’d have it cranked all the way up and really hot air was filling the cockpit. Me: “You feel that?!?!” Sailor: “Yeah!!!” Me: “That’s the speed of heat!!!” Then I’d turn the thermostat back to normal cool temperatures and tell them I was kidding. Those flights were so fun and truly an honor to give a little back to the Maintainers whenever I could. All you wrench turners out there? Love you guys and gals. **Image Note** Attached image is from an original that AI has “cleaned up”.

I'll take The Cheesecake Factory over the Darth Vader museum any day of the week!

The most beautiful video you will see, and finish your evening with.

Who did this? 🤣🤣🤣

Don’t forget to throw out your trash on the way out.

Heartbreaking news...💔 Pittsburgh has lost one of its own. Donnie Iris was more than a rock legend, he was part of our city's heart and soul. Thank you for the music, the memories, and the legacy you leave behind. Rest easy, Donnie. You will never be forgotten...🙏😥

The 2nd Amendment DOES NOT grant us the right to bear arms God did that!! What the 2nd Amendment DOES DO is make sure the government can't infringe on that right!!

livin my best frickin life and no one’s ruinin my vibe🤘🏽😛 @tecovas

Story time: I went with the Heiress to her (and my sister’s) 20th year HS reunion. The entire evening was consumed with guys coming up to her and saying they wished they’d ended up with her. At one point I looked at one of them and said “hey, we’re in a hotel, why don’t you guys get a room?” That earned me a very dirty look from my wife. At the end of the evening, we were at a table alone and I commented without rancor (because I’m that self confident), “it must feel pretty good to have all these guys panting after you.” She looked me in the eye and said, “Unlike them, I’m with the person I’ve been lusting after since high school.” That’s the standard you should set for the woman you’re with.

People keep asking what “10,000 Stephen Millers” actually means. Let me tell you, because it's simpler than the headline. Stephen Miller started as a junior staffer in a Senate office. He wasn't famous. He wasn't connected. He stayed for years, learned the policy cold, worked harder than everyone around him, and was loyal to his boss and the mission. That's how a junior staffer becomes an assistant to the president. It's not enough to just create right-wing staff. You have to make them humble, loyal, and willing to work harder and later than everyone else. Since 2021, American Moment has trained several thousand young conservatives. Every semester, a small class of paid fellows learns how Washington actually works: how decisions get made, how paper moves, how to staff a principal, how to show up prepared. Our alumni now work across the administration and on Capitol Hill. Elections change who sits in the big chairs. They don't change who writes the memos, staffs the meetings, and implements their principal's decisions — unless you build the people who do. The other side understood this a long time ago. They built institutions to train and place their people, and they are now openly threatening ours for doing the same. We're going to keep building anyway. If you're a young conservative who wants to serve — really serve, not just post — we will train you, we will help you get hired, and we will stand behind you when it gets hard. Personnel is policy. Build the personnel, and the policy follows.