VFA-143 Pukin Dogs in the F-14b Tomcat

I'm Captain Dale Snodgrass, and behind me is an F-14B from VF-143, the world-famous Pukin Dogs. And next to me is my RIO-TATO, and he's from Minnesota, Tadditch Grove. This little pod you're looking at right here is what we call a television camera set. It has the ability to slave to the radar and magnify that picture by a factor of 10 power, so we're able to visually identify airborne targets at much longer ranges. You want to make sure that you're not going to engage a good guy with the missile, which you can shoot beyond visual range. I'm walking under the swing wing, which is a variable-sweep geometry wing of the F-14. The wings move from a full forward position of 20 degrees to 68 degrees, and they are computer-controlled, so I just select automatic on the throttle, and the wings move based on my mach number and airspeed and altitude. Right now we're in what's called an over-sweep position, which is the equivalent distance of the tail, which optimizes space on the flight deck of a carrier. This little bar right here is called the launch bar. When we're on the aircraft carrier, the aircraft actually kneels. This whole strut collapses down here, and this comes down on the flight deck, and this is what attaches to the catapult, and this is what's between you and the 300 feet and gets you flying on the end of the catapult. This is what drags the airplane from zero to 150 knots in about two and a half seconds. What you're looking at right now is the thing that separates Navy fighter pilots from Air Force fighter pilots, and that's the tail hook. When we come aboard the ship, we have a lever in the cockpit, we lower that, this hook comes floating down, and right here we have two-inch cables, two-inch-wide cables that go across the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, four of them, and we engage one of these, and that's what stops the airplane on the flight deck. Flight deck, you go to catch the wire. It's not like on a runway where you go to idle, you go right to full power, in case you miss the wire, you can get airborne again, but there's enough strength in the cable and this hook to stop the airplane. The hook is attached right to the main bulkhead of the airplane, and it's very strong, and then you take it to the next level, which is night carrier landings, which I've got over 1,100 carrier landings, of which 400 some are at night, and I've been doing it for 20 years, so I have a lot of experience, but just thinking about a night trap on a crummy night at sea makes my palms sweat right now, so it really is probably the hardest thing I know of in aviation. Navy flight gear, which is very effective if you have to float in the ocean, but if you just have to go fly, and it's kind of a pain in the neck to put on. These life vests and everything, they're little special dealies that, once they get wet, specifically in salt water, they, your life vest automatically inflates. Of course, there's not a lot of salt water around here, so I'd have to do it myself. The F-14 is a venerable fighter. It's been around in active duty service for over 20 years now. It's been a great airplane for the Navy. One of the preeminent fighters in the world still is, but in the last couple of years, we've transitioned into the world that we call strike, which is the air-to-ground tactic in the last year or so. In particular, the airplane has seen a renaissance, and with some modifications and additions to the airplane, it's become a superb precision strike platform. The ability to drop a laser-guided bomb in your sunroof would be nice. Captain Snodgrass is now going to accelerate the airplane and set up for a series of rolls down the show line. Notice as Captain Snodgrass sweeps the wings from 68 degrees supersonic position to a 20 degree forward position during these rolls. Watch him look off to the right again as Captain Snodgrass prepares once again to demonstrate the variable sweep of the wings of the F-14 Tomcat as he performs the knife-edge pass. ...comes off the wings as he pulls out. Gear down, flaps down, simulating a carrier landing. Working that throttle. A touch and go, folks. With the F-14 lookouts, little runways on either side. What do you think so far? Are we having a good time with these guys? Woo! Holy nelly.