A flight deck control officer orchestrates the ballet by using a scale replica of the flight deck and hangar bays to manually indicate aircraft movements. Life at sea, particularly moving massive aircraft around on a flat, open deck without railings, is inherently dangerous, Navy officials said. Hot air blasts from a turning jet can send a careless deck-hand 20 feet into the air, off the edge and into the sea. A buddy system is employed to teach new flight deck-hands the ropes and help prevent accidents. This time, however, it was only a drill.
Crew members say real world missions such as the crisis with Iraq puts added focus on their jobs.
It's fairly common for carrier battle groups to respond to world crisis, a Navy official said, and often that very presence is enough to stabilize the situation. While ship routine stays fairly standard, normal training requirements are integrated with mission requirements to keep the ship and its crew at 100 percent readiness. Aviation Storekeeper 1st Class James Robinson, a 16- year Navy veteran, said he has no problem shifting from the routine to the unexpected. It's a real situation. We're not just doing drills.