Many Made Their First Arrested Landings On An Aircraft Carrier

Pilots-in-training assigned to Training Squadron (VT) 9 achieved at-sea flight qualifications aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)(Ike), Sept. 15-20.

For several of the new aviators, the qualification flights marked their first-ever arrested landings on an aircraft carrier.

"Landing on an aircraft carrier is a huge part of naval aviation," said Lt. Tavish "Caitlyn" Gould, an aviator who accompanied the pilots-in-training of VT-9 during the training period. "Some people have been trying their whole lives to get to this point."

After more than two years of training, the flyers were more than ready to earn their carrier qualifications. Overcoming the adversity of rough weather, the pilots flew out in their T-45C Goshawk training jets to make their very first "traps."

To earn the qualification, the pilots-in-training were graded on 10 successful traps and four "touch-and-goes."

"We've been in South Carolina for the last three or four days," Gould said on Sept. 19. "Today, we finally had the weather to come get our first few traps. Before we made that first trap, we'd listened to our instructors or buddies who have done this before, and there still isn't really anything you can quite compare it to."

Although inclement weather proved troublesome, it only served to delay the training by a few days. Realizing the importance of completing this evolution, Ike's crew and the visiting nascent aviators pushed through the rain and wind to complete the operation.

"The past couple days there's been some bad weather," said Ensign Chris Muiderrig, a pilot-in-training attached to VT-9. "We built ourselves up each day, all ready to go, and then we got canceled. Then it all came to this morning when we woke up at 4 a.m. to fly out here. We started seeing some bad weather on our way and got real nervous, just hoping we would make it this time."

Muiderrig said the experience was like no other.

"The way it was described to me was: you're just going to crash into the boat and hope you stop, and that is pretty accurate," he said. "There's literally no way to describe the feeling you get when you actually catch a wire. I have a smile on my face just thinking about it."

This was the first exercise the flyers had done outside of a training environment, and the danger of landing a speeding jet on a moving aircraft carrier finally became a reality.

"This is the first real thing we do," Muiderrig said. "We land on an actual ship, we're next to real water and facing real danger."

Having earned their initial carrier qualification, the pilots have two phases and a few months of training remaining before they will finally have earned their wings.

"I'd like to say thank you to Capt. Stephen Koehler [Dwight D. Eisenhower's commanding officer] and the crew of Ike for their time and hospitality," said First Lt. Shawn Kane, a Marine with VT-9. "It means the world to us as naval aviators to get the chance to qualify on this ship. It's been a fantastic time, and we appreciate your time and the time of your crew."

Ike is currently underway conducting carrier qualifications as part of the basic phase of the optimized fleet response plan (OFRP).

(U.S. Navy image)

FMI: www.navy.mil/local/cvn69