Catapult shots
Aircraft carriers are the cornerstone of America’s naval forces, serving as the most versatile and resilient airfields in the world.
U.S. Navy carriers support and launch aircraft that strike airborne, surface, and land-based targets threatening freedom of the seas, while also carrying out sustained power-projection missions in support of U.S. and coalition forces. Because carriers must launch these aircraft from such a limited space, engineers developed catapults: simple but highly effective systems that help make the process possible.
Keeping air moving across the deck is important, but the main boost at takeoff comes from the carrier’s four catapults, which accelerate aircraft to high speed in a very short distance. Each catapult uses two pistons housed in parallel cylinders, each roughly the length of a football field, beneath the deck. According to How Stuff Works, each piston has a metal lug at its tip that protrudes through a narrow slot along the top of the cylinder. The lugs pass through rubber seals and through an opening in the flight deck, where they connect to a small shuttle.
A catapult shot (or cat shot) can produce up to 4 Gs, and it can take an aircraft from zero to 160 mph in just two seconds.
How quickly does a carrier pilot regain manual control after launch?
Hands off the stick during cat launch in the A-7E Corsair II
David Tussey, a former U.S. Navy A-7E Corsair II pilot, explains on Quora:
“Immediately at the end of the catapult stroke.”
“The aircraft is trimmed such that it assumes the proper rotation at the speed achieved at the end of the cat stroke. That sets the proper attitude. The pilot then assumes control immediately, typically to execute what is known as a ‘clearing turn’ immediately off the cat (to get the airplane out of the way of the carrier in the event of an engine failure/ejection).”
“So, it’s probably less than a second after the end of the cat shot that the pilot assumes full control.”
As explained earlier, during a catapult launch, F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and F-35 pilots must keep their right hand off the controls and firmly on the canopy rail handle.
Hornet, Super Hornet, and Lightning II pilots cannot launch unless their hand is visible on the handle, a safeguard against interfering with the fly-by-wire system and triggering potentially unrecoverable pilot-induced oscillation during launch.
Tussey continues,
“This is not something brand new. I launched in the A-7 with my hands off the stick. The trim settings used for a cat launch could rotate and set the proper AoA for takeoff much quicker than I could as a pilot.”
“I’m no Hornet pilot, but I’m pretty confident that the pilot takes control of the aircraft within a second of being airborne. For one thing, you have to execute that clearing turn immediately after the launch that I mentioned. And that requires manual control inputs.”
Clearing turn
“Here’s a shot of an F-14 Tomcat immediately after the cat shot. Notice how he’s turning to the left. That means he was shot off from the waist cats and is maneuvering to clear the flight deck and the carrier immediately.”
Tussey concludes,
“Here’s a picture of one aircraft (F/A-18E) launching from the waist cat, while another (EA-18G) simultaneously launches from the bow cat. Both are executing clearing turns. That maneuver requires manual flight control inputs.”
Photos by PH1 David C. Maclean and POC PHAN Charles R. Solseth / U.S. Navy
