This is sublime. Just the natural cockpit sound, no stupid somebody-else’s-taste music. Thanks for posting.

Five decades later with many former shipmates gone, I look at those faces and think “Were we really ever that young?” And, yes, we were and lucky to have served. Beautiful video.

My best friend from the Navy was an E-2 pilot and LSO. He went on to be a 747 captain with Delta. He said the E-2 was the hardest plane to land on the boat. With its unusual configuration of the big disk antenna on top, the aerodynamics changed with every power setting. On approach, anytime the power changed, it was like flying a whole different airplane. That is the reason for the constant trim changes.

The Clark Gable mustache was essential for a smooth landing.

Lots of folks ask about the thumb work. Answer: those are the electric trim buttons and they are important to offload the pilots' hands from the pressure of the control column (and rudder pedals). Offloading the presure is important to allow the pilot to make smaller timely control inputs, which is important for precise landing. Finding the trimmed position is difficult when the aircraft turns, changes speed, changes flap and gear settings, and it can only be found "by feel", hence the intense work with the left thumb as well. Hope this helps. KZfaq doesn't alllow links here, so search for Trim systems and Skybrary, if someone want to know more about the background.

I grew up as an Air Force brat. My dad was a B-17 pilot in WW II, shot down, and spent 2 years as a POW. He stayed in the Air Force after the war and became a B-47 and B-52 pilot during the Cold War. I had the best parents any kid could have hoped for and so I wanted to be a pilot. Unfortunately, I had two strikes against me: I had poor eyesight and I was that good at math because we moved so often. I attended 7 different Junior and Senior High Schools. Different teachers, different text books, different everything. In 1967 while I was in college, I knew I would soon be drafted because I had received my pre-induction draft physical. I didn't want to be drafted into the Army, so I joined the Marine Corps. Probably the best decision in my life for reasons that would take too long to tell here. I was a Platoon Commander in Vietnam, a company commander for the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, and then I was assigned to the 1st Marine Brigade, Marine Air Station, Kaneohe, Hawaii. I was a company commander there, so the hours were very long. Left my apartment at 0430 to lead PT with my company, and didn't return until 2000 to 2200 (8 pm to 10 pm). I worked all or part of most weekends. But I always wanted to be a pilot, so on the few times I had off, I took flying lessons at a company at Honolulu International. What was great about that is that I had to follow all of the same procedures for takeoffs and landings as the commercial and international flights. One day I was on final and the 747 behind me chimed in "If you don't hurry off the runway, I'm going to eat you up". It's a long story, but I had to fly at night after work most of the time and the flying company gave me spare key to one of the aircraft because I always paid in advance. After they closed, I could take that aircraft for a night flight, record the block time, and slip it in the mail slot. I got far more night time flying in than daytime. Another great thing about flying our of Honolulu International is that the Historic Ford Island of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941 was still operational for private aircraft to practice touch and goes. Every time I was on approach to Ford Island, I was reminded of the thousands of WW II aircraft that had made the same approach. I was back in Oahu 6 years ago and the Ford Island runway had been destroyed, but nothing built on it, so it still looked like a runway, but it was just gravel. Also while I was stationed in Hawaii, I also earned my gliders license/certificate at Dillingham Field. To be honest, I didn't like gliders that much because you only had one chance to land, and I found it difficult to get the damn thing to quit flying. I did land the damn thing, but only with a few feet to spare at the end of the runway. During my brief time flying, I accumulated 600 hours of pilot in command time. I flew the Grumman AA-1 and AA-2, various Cessna's, the Rockwell 112, a Laker amphibian, and I took training in Alaska while on leave for the Beaver floatplane and a Mountain flying course. At the time I had considered resigning from the Marine Corps and becoming a bush pilot. But my Alaskan instructors advised me that if I hadn't been flying in Alaska for years, I'd probably end up dead. But I did take basic, intermediate, and advanced aerobatics. My basic was in the Grumman AA-2. My intermediate was in the Citabria, and my advanced was in a Pitts Special S2. When I was reassigned to Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington DC, I became the Project Officer to automate the officer assignment system. The only thing I knew about computers was that NASA used them to launch rockets. I was now the officer in charge of automating something between 150=200 three ring binders plus what were the unwritten rules in the heads of the assignment monitors. It's a very long story, but it too me a little over 3 years to get it done. I had a very small company to support me and they wrote the core code. But there wasn't sufficient funds to produce the output and so I learned to program in Natural (the precursor to SQL) and I wrote over 500,000 lines of output code. This was done on card punch machines and fed into the main frame computer loading decks of card punched cards. The point of this part of the story is that I had to learn what a computer was, how it functioned, and what computer code was and learn how to program. It began when I purchased computer parts from a company called Heath Kit (which became Radio Shack) and I built my first computers from parts, soldering the connections in my basement. My first attempt shorted out and blew out a couple of vacuum tubes, but I finally succeeded in getting the computer to turn on. But, there was blinking cursor in the upper left corner and I had no idea what that was/meant. So I went back to the store and they told me that I needed software to make the computer functional. The guy sold me a game called Pong. I finally understood the difference between the hardware and software. This was a major revelation for my as I was trying to manage a major program of mainframe computers and software at the time was way beyond my ability to comprehend. So, at this point I have to explain why the Marine Corps thought an infantry officer could be the project officer to automate the Marine Corps officer assignment system. It's because in those days, the Marine Corps had this idea that an infantry officer could do just about anything except fly a plane. I digress. I had horrendous hours trying to automate the Marine Corps officer assignment system that required working very late at night and over weekends. This while I was trying to date a wonderful woman who had no idea why I had to work such long hours and weekends. But she stuck with me and after dating for two years, we got married. So the point is that I had very few hours to devote to flying and the nearest airport with instrument rated rentals was too far, and it was too expensive, so I had to give up flying. After leading Marines (especially in combat), flying was he greatest thrill of my life. There is a poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr. called High Flight about flying. The last line is "Put out my hand, and touched the face of God". That's how I felt on every flight. My dad died on active duty in 1971 at the age of 54. He could fly anything that two or more engines. I hope he is looking down and proud of what I have done in the Marine Corps and flying. My apologies for the long rambling post, but there are some things that bring back strong memories.

Thanks,for keeping it real and no dumb disco music. Love the humming noise.

It's fascinating to watch these young pilots work so well and so hard. These vids give us the perfect perspective of just how difficult landing on a carrier must be. Not to mention their age. 26, 27, 28ish... Then, I think back to what I was doing with my life at 28ish... Ouch...

From Pensacola, we are in awe of our Naval aviators. Thanks for being there guys and gals.

The E2 is one of the most difficult aircraft to land on carrier, excellent job !

Between the trim and yoke that's a whole lot of input for these E-2's especially on short final. That tells me all that surface area is taxing the pilots stick and rudder skills to the max! Great job!

Naval Aviation At its finest and the best flight yet is having a great Veiws from the cockpit and now I know that the nose gear steering is great from the lower left side of the panel. And thank you for sharing this great opportunity to ride along with you and your crew members. I'm looking forward to seeing more and thank you all aboard and serving our country of the United States of America

Built the forward section of E2C for two and a half yrs 1980 to 1983 great men to work with after serving three years in the MARINE corps then on to the FDNY for 33 years it was my honor to build the E2EC thank you to all the Gentleman I worked with in Grumman job well done!

Gonna need a new trim switch after that flight. Pilots thumb is now numb.

Love it! I flew P-3s back in the late 80s. I'll never forget the sound of the engines. We had to sync our props to prevent unwanted harmonics, but I'll never forget looking outside and seeing those 13 foot diameter props swinging at 1300 rpm and knowing that each one had 4600 shp behind them. I think you guys had the same engine. We had fun with the P-3 but you guys got to hit the boat. Hat's off to you.

John, this is cool angle because it shows the coordination between the yoke and the power adjustments. Neat vids.

Impressive! I have no aviation experience, but the yoke movement was a bit of a surprise to me. Lots of work and the head on a swivel. Thanks for sharing.

It's incredible the use of trimming at the approach segment even in final

The AOA was glued in the center the whole pattern... Nice ball flying!!

"With a great mustache comes great responsibility!" *Peter Griffin

Superb videos! Love the insight to carrier life. Thanks for sharing and keep em coming 👏

Hawkeyes are the unsung heros of Naval Aviation. Proud to have worked on them!

Can't imagine how frustrating a wave off must be for them, especially after the longer grueling flights when your tired and just ready to get the plane on the deck only to be waved off.

Shout out to AME, whoever did the tape job on PIC's helmet is a champion.

Thank you for sharing what you do on KZfaq, it really is awesome to see these videos

As a kid I got to stand next to the LSO and watch my dad land on the kittyhawk. That was an amazing cruise. I still have the pic somewhere of me wearing the vest and holding the LSO controller for a camera.

I love the way the pilot works the trim button constantly.

I was showing this to my father. We were sent to Naples AFI where he was with VR-24 (1966-1970). The C-1 was transitioning to C-2, but did not become operational until he got to Vietnam. The C-2 was welcome because the carriers did not have to carry AVGAS anymore and the long legs allowed many squadron detachments like Naples AFI to be shut down. It is good to see that landing aboard a carrier has not changed in 50 years.

Cool video. My nephew is serving on the USS CARL VINSON. Happy Holidays to everyone serving.

Awesome job great stick and rudder skills, thanks for your service and very artful flying. Good bless.

Reminds me of the Pilatus. 4-way hat switch for pitch and roll and rudder trim on the PCL. St. Barths was my aircraft carrier.

Was on the Chucky V from ‘85 they ‘89. I miss her. Great video!

I noticed the constant trim changes. Nice flying, guys! Would fly with you any time. Best wishes to all servicemen.

Back in the 88, I got to go with my step dad to Coronado every day while he was at work. There was a lime-green F-14 permanently parked there for some reason, and I got to see some of the Jolly Rogers F-14s, but I remember most of all the A-6 exhaust in my face, and watching new pilots train in the S-3 Vikings, that weird, weird whoop-whoop the engines would make as they throttled down, then up. I've always loved Navy planes and always will.

Wow that was amazing. I could not imagine doing that at night... in the rain... in a storm... under the stress of combat. The control movements from 5:40 till stopped are insane.

Awesome video and flying. Would have liked to see the rest of the taxi, it’s crazy full of planes.

Thanks for the topside view of the ship I left 28 years ago....ET1 nuke (90-94)

it wouldn't surprise me if that left thumb had a moustache as well, and hung out in bars.

Damn, that brings back so many memories flying the E-2 during the early 90s. Didn’t have any of the fancy glass cockpit instruments though. :(((

Much respect to you few who can do this job!! At the average age of 24, I dont think I had the maturity to fly a jet which is why I ended up in the Army for 22 years. 🤙 Good times! 20 years of war and 9 deployments.

I wonder if he ever has nightmares about his left thumb fallin off? ^.^

Monster video. Thanks for sharing!

Boy that pilot is giving that trim button hell with his left thumb!

I was in VAW-112 in the mid 80's. I still love these birds. PS: not flight crew. One of the greatest things I remeber seeing is in 1987 ,when on the Kitty Hawk, coming out of the Suez canal and seeing the Nimitz off in the distance. Would have loved to gotten photos of both "birdfarms" together at sea.

You all get the big RESPECT!! Hard enough trying to get the fighters on the deck . Now you all have to put these monsters on there also. God bless you all 🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💪💪💪

Man - that pilot is working that trim. Fantastic to see these guys in action.

Fantastic. Rolled into a righteous groove, on speed and a damn foul deck. loved the vid

Nice job guys! I’m proud to say I was a Black Eagle during the 1980’s as an AT. WestPac 84’/85’ USS Constellation, WestPac 87’ USS Ranger. Those were the days.

How often do they have to fix that trim button is what I wanna know!

Please forgive me if this questions has already been answered, but the pilot is continually making movements with his left thumb on the control stick. What is this? What controls or information is he accessing? Great video, loved it!

Just unbelievable how large the flat top looks (actually IS) from inside the cockpit!

Would love to hear the radio traffic with this! But can't have your cake and eat it too. Awesome video. God bless everyone who flies and gets them in the air on the deck and keeps it all going.

US Navy has, by very far, the finest pilots in the entire world. I've seen first hand aboard CVN-70 what these dudes are capable of, as an AO2 from 1998 - 2002. They command respect and rightfully so.

Good to see the Black Eagles in action! I served with them 1995-1996 as a YNC(SW) and got commissioned in the Persian Gulf aboard VINSON July 1996. Great memories!

Very interressing👍🇫🇷thanks!

What's the screen to the left of the right seater's PFD? Great video. Awesome skills

Are you trimming the aircraft with your thumb? Like fine touches?

Always a Nice Relief To Be Back Aboard. I know someone who did three tours CIC that Plane

Outstanding! If I could go back in time I'd love to train to be in that seat!!

Half the time my airplane would be yelling at me, “bank angle! Bank angle!”

I flew with 2 of my students today. Just watching this aircraft turn you just wonder how marvelous flying is. Humans are clever buggers.

A full start up to launch would be an awesome video if you could do that.

I understand the constant trimming for pitch (...done it thousands of times myself), but the pilot appears to be trimming a lot for yaw or roll as well, or am I misinterpreting what I'm seeing? Some of the planes I flew had roll trim, but it was usually a manually set trim wheel and didn't need constant attention. Thanks in advance.

The LSO waived them off to give their porn stache a chance to grow.

Those trim switches must not last very long.

Great film. The skipper loves to fiddle with the trim!

Great camera angle on this!

Do traps take place from the Right hand seat under training or for getting landings up? I was just interested in the different perspective that the Right hand Pilot would have with roll out and perhaps with aligning with the Optical Landing System. I.e if it has an effect on the aircrafts attitude late in the roll out at all?

Joe Cool. Great airmanship. Cheers!

Holy smokes, that trim system is getting a serious workout. How often does the trim actuator on an E-2 get changed, like every 3rd flight?

Wow! Liked and sub’d. Great footage, even better landing 😎👌

It would nice if we could hear the comms going on.

Спасибо !!!

I noticed the Garman 540 unit on the center console. I’ve never seen that on a military aircraft. Did they have to do any modifications for it for carrier use? Why do they need that when the aircraft already has an FMS?

That's incredible how much flying you have to do with the trim adjustment, incredible video!

All the credit for that landing goes to the thumb!! It did all the work!!

I wonder what the life cycle of that poor trim control is. He must have used it 500 times in this video. Great vid!

I'm an Army fan, but God Bless all you NAVY Fly Boys out there.

Would be nice to hear the ATC (or whatever it's called on a carrier) radio chatter

Great video! Curious..what is the Captain doing using left thumb on yoke? Takes nerves of steel to land on a carrier.

I was a controller on a Grumman E2B mostly on The USS Independents and USS Enterprise Had many scary missions. VAW 12 out of Norfolk

Awesome and thank you

Great footage. Balls of steel

Great stuff! 👍 Intense job!

Nice! Question: what's with all the left thumb action on the yoke? ( thanks )

What was the pilot doing with his left thumb on the yoke? Was he adjusting some flight parameters or is it just a nervous twitch?

Every carrier landing is an amazing thing!

Out of curiosity, what are the switches constantly being toggled by the pilot on the left hand grip on the yolk as he’s flying, Communications ?

What is the pilot doing with his left thumb? Is that a trim hat or he is controlling a cursor on one of the flight displays?

That bank angle. Holy.

Giving that trim one heck of a workout.

Just an old SWO asking, but do Aviators constantly adjust the trim while landing?

This trap brought to you by the power of the cruise mustache!

Apologies for the dumb question, but what's the button that the pilot keeps pressing on the top left corner of the stick?

My old ship, I was crash and salvage onboard, if you look and see the red box on back of the P-25 crash truck as the hummer goes to a 6 o clock in the L.A., that was the brainchild of my Crash Bos’n….damn, I still can’t believe they still have them on there after all these years. I watched those things get built and painted and installed. Hahah, where has the time again. Miss V-1 immensely

That was intense! I don't care how easy he makes it look that was impressive. What a job! I envy navy pilots. Balls of steel for sure.

Beautiful approach to landing

From camera angle it appears P1 is doing everything? Please enlighten?

Military pilots love thier trim button..

What's that little pouch on the copilot's helmet? I imagine you get used to it, but it looks tough to fly a pass using a yoke. Vinson is my old ship, by the way. Viking SENSO, VS-29, CVW-15, made the ship's second and third cruises.