Everyone on the ship and especially those turkeys on Vulture’s Row know you just screwed up major league. Predictably, I had several bolters, including a “cut pass”-down the starboard side, nonetheless-the worst thing that can happen to a carrier pilot short of ending up in the drink. Later, Denham pulled out all the stops, failing the head-up display and the autothrottles, and transitioning us to night flight. Once, a little low, I pulled back and “elevated” back up to the meatball and let go again. I just needed to apply slight left and right corrections. The airplane started down at 3.5 degrees. With Magic Carpet assisting, I aligned my glidepath with the meatball and let pressure off the stick. Next time, I switched the augmentation on as I rolled out of the constant-bank turn onto final. My biggest challenge was understanding the symbology on the head-up display and looking for the “meatball,” the visual glidepath guidance system. Indeed, the F/A–18 is easy to fly-during the day when everything’s working and no one is shooting at you. With coaching from outside the sim by James “Buddy” Denham, a senior engineer for the Naval Air Systems Command, I managed to snag the 3 wire without Magic Carpet on the first try. “The F–18 is the easiest airplane to fly, easier than a Cessna,” promised the longtime general aviation pilot as we headed for the simulator. David Kindley, the Navy’s F/A–18 and EA–18G program manager, was on hand to show how easy it is to land an F/A–18 Super Hornet on a carrier. Our chance a couple of weeks later to experience it ourselves, though, was less dramatic, my Bonanza touching down on Patuxent River Naval Air Station’s 11,800-foot Runway 24 (see “Waypoints: Logic: So Overrated,” October 2016 AOPA Pilot). Navy’s Magic Carpet augmented flight control system trials aboard the USS George Washington was abrupt, the aging Grumman C2 Greyhound slamming onto the 1,092-foot flight deck, catching the 3 wire. We try our hand at ‘flying’ the Super Hornet
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