![]() ![]() Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting CQ. Meier is onboard to observe Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106’s inaugural use of precession landing mode during carrier qualifications(CQ). ![]() Ford’s (CVN 78) commanding officer, observe flight operations from the ship’s landing signal officer platform, Feb. John Meier, commander, Naval Air Forces Atlantic, and Capt. They were confident, and quite frankly I think they had a good time out there.” “What we saw was a lot of confident aviators who realized that technology is really making something that was supposed to be incredibly hard actually a little bit of fun – not a lot of fun, flying at night is never anyone’s first choice – but the expression on their face really told the story of what this capability brings. “You’ll see the white knuckles, the shaky knees, and you can see the expression on the face of somebody who’s just landed on an aircraft carrier at night for the first time – we didn’t see that last night,” Catlin told reporters today in a call while aboard Ford. Thanks to a software update tested and approved last fall, brand new pilots are finally able to learn how to land with this tool that will make them much more successful with much less work. The Navy hasn’t been comfortable teaching new pilots how to use the landing tool, though, since there were so many failure modes that could arise on the jet that would prevent the plane from using Precision Landing Mode. The Precision Landing Mode – a software tool added to the jet’s flight control and mission computers that significantly reduces the number of inputs a pilot has to make on final approach – was first used at sea by test pilots in 2015 under the program name MAGIC CARPET and saw its first usage in a fleet squadron in 2017. “I will say that, without a doubt, hands down, Day 1 yesterday was by far the smoothest evolution, best performance we’ve seen from our students ever – and that’s by an awful lot,” said Catlin, who personally oversees all his students’ carrier qualifications. Ford (CVN-78) to conduct their first landings at sea in an F-/A-18E-F Super Hornet, both in the daylight and at night. Dan Catlin, the commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106, this week brought some newly winged pilots out to USS Gerard R. The Navy is in the final stages of fully adopting a Precision Landing Mode for fighter pilots, with young fleet replacement squadron pilots for the first time conducting carrier qualifications with the tool that significantly cuts down on the work required during an approach to the back of an aircraft carrier at sea.Ĭapt. Meier is onboard to observe Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106’s inaugural use of Precision Landing Mode during carrier qualifications(CQ). John Meier, commander, Naval Air Forces Atlantic, communicates with pilots assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106 from the landing signal officer platform on USS Gerald R. ![]()
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