It could be worse.
Courtesy of the Jaded Major, here is a collection of really bad days. What is interesting-I actually was witness to three of these mishaps when they happened, no lie! I’ll bet a lot of you folks who were in Naval Aviation in a previous life can say the same thing.
The (I think) prop plane that crashes through the wave and stays in the air…awesome.
But I have to ask, obviously the fuck-ups on landing would hurt some pilots career, but what about the poor guy whose landing gear just disintegrated?
Generally no. But there will be an investigation to try to determine why the gear failed.
Thanx.
Some fantastic flying skills and cool to save someo f what, to me, appeared unslavagable.
Respect for naval pilots- already high- soared.
Training or just inate skill?
I think it is a combination of both. The mishap files are full of folks who didn’t make the right reaction. But one of the things about Naval Aviation is that they are always making you think about what will happen if things go wrong. They (used to) to a thorough job of making sure you understood how the system in the aircraft worked-primarily so you would understand what might happen if they did not work as advertised. That is why the NATOPS and the Crew Coordination Programs have been so successful.
But in the in close position-if things go to shit, sometimes its just up to God if you get out.