Story about an 'almost' barricade recovery, how seldom used with a request to 'not have the barricade'.... is in the March 2011 LSO Newsletter here:
http://www.hrana.org/documents/PaddlesMonthlyMarch2011.pdfComplete text here: (looks like the 'tt's 't's 'ti's 'tti's 'ft's etc. did not copy across - I'll try to put them back)
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CVW-2’s Near-BarricadeOur special thanks to CVW-2 Staff LSO LCDR “Jitters” Kircher for putting together the following submission for this month’s edition of Paddles Monthly.
As time goes on and the money gets tighter, those who control the purse strings are understandably looking for savings. Recently, the LSO School Staff was approached about the possibility of eliminating the requirement for the barricade on forthcoming CVNs, with the possibility of the capability disappearing entirely. The primary driver behind the push to eliminate the barricade stems from the fact that one has not even been attempted since 1998. However, as CVW-2’s LSO Cadre found out, the next actual barricade situation may be lurking right around the corner…….
It was a standard OEF night recovery, the second of the evening with two more to go. Midway through, I hear a Rhino ask for a rep. Being curious and nosey, I turn up the rep freq. Actually, having the rep freq up at all times, as long as you can stand it, is a great idea. You’d be surprised at what DOESN’T make it to you on the platform sometimes. The conversation about the all-too familiar nose-wheel unsafe indication is already in progress. The aircraft joins up with the tanker and gets a visual inspection but - as per NATOPS - there is no way to be certain of the down and locked status of the nose gear by visual inspection alone. With an unsafe nose-wheel, the arrested landing option is out. You are left with only two choices: divert or barricade.
After deliberation down below, the decision was made to tank the jet to an above-dirty-bingo fuel state and send him on his way to the beach to attempt a field landing. The two aircraft departed for the divert with the intention of tanking the damaged bird en route, and then the tanker recovering when they were finished. I kept the rep frequency up while the recovery continued. I started to hear a significant amount of chatter in my ear from the diverting aircraft. I heard things like: “no flow, back out” followed by “I’ll reset” and, ultimately, “tanker sour.” Additionally, it was getting tougher to hear the transmissions because they were getting out of radio range. Of note, there were no other tankers to be launched in a timely manner, it was this one or nothing.
At the limit of radio range - with the jet unable to get any gas from the tanker - the decision
was made to bring them back to the ship and rig the barricade. The phone rang on
the platform, it was CAG telling me we were rigging the barricade. By the time I could get
the words, “What the !@#?” out of my mouth, the boss came over the 5MC and said,
“Now rig the barricade.” I told the team-lead to get out the ARBs while I finish up my conversation with CAG. By the time I turned around to look at the book, all 4 wires were
stripped and the barricade was on its way out of the hole. All of that barricade rigging
practice had paid off. It was quite impressive.
I estimated the gross weight of the jet based on the last fuel state that I’d heard, but with
my heart beating out of my chest, I wanted to be backed up. I asked the pilot his estimated
gross weight at landing and was immediately told to standby by the CATCC rep. I told
the rep he would standby and re-asked my question. We agreed on his estimate, calculated
an approach speed and ran it by the boss, who concurred. The big take away from this
is the rep may not let you get a word in unless you tell him to stop yapping for a second
and ask what you need to. While I’m sure whatever they were talking about was important,
what we need down on the platform is equally important. That gets forgotten during a lot of emergencies.
On the trip back to the ship, they were still trying to get the tanker to give gas, and at
some point the ARS pod conceded and started transferring. The barricade rigging ceased
and we were able to go down below where I let my heart attack subside before the next
recovery.”
