On Deck Aviators

PHILIPPINE SEA

04.17.2024

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Adina Phebus 

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)     

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PHILIPPINE SEA – As the sun rises over the open ocean, a team of highly skilled individuals stand ready on the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Among them are the shooters, tasked with a mission critical to the success of naval aviation – launching aircraft into the sky from 0 to 160 miles per hour with efficiency, precision and safety.

Pilots and naval flight officers (NFOs) become shooters on their ship tour rotations. When they aren’t flying, they’re launching aircraft in a ‘disassociated-sea tour.’

“A lot of us are either pilots or NFOs,” said Lt. Cmdr. Parker Beam, a shooter aboard Theodore Roosevelt. “The primary job for us is flying, but this tour we’re considered to be on our disassociated sea tour. There are a lot of pilots or NFOs who are either shooters or air admin.”

Similar to many other jobs in the Navy, shooters require prerequisite positions before they can launch aircraft. Getting these qualifications typically takes three to four months to complete.

“We have a two-week shooter school, but once we come to a ship, we have to work on getting qualifications,” said Beam. “We start from the bottom with arresting gear officer – those in charge of landing aircraft – and then we work our way through the syllabus. After all that is when we begin shooting aircraft. It’s definitely a process to become a fully qualified shooter.”

The primary job of a shooter is the launch and recovery of aircraft. They make all the final checks so aircraft are launched safely.

“We go through our checklist to make sure everything is good to go and to make sure that jet or aircraft safely launches off the flight deck,” said Beam. “Shooters make sure the aircraft is fully set up because if we don’t, it creates a potential for something dangerous to happen.”

Shooters have a process they conduct every time before a launch, which Beam refers to as the ‘ABCs.’

“’A’ is for aircraft,” said Beam. “We make sure the wings are down, flaps are in, pins are pulled, ordnance is on it, and the jet blast deflectors are up. ‘B’ is for beacons. They go green or red. Green means everything forward of the aircraft is clear and red means something could potentially run into the aircraft or personnel are in front of the aircraft. ‘C’ is our capacity selector valve (CSV), which is the weight of the aircraft based on the wind over deck. There is a setting of how hard or soft we shoot the aircraft based on the weather. We make the setting for the aircraft to launch with enough airspeed to safely leave the deck.”

However, even with the shooters looking for safety topside, there is still potential for something to go wrong. That’s where the CSV comes in.

“Things go wrong all the time,” said Beam. “That’s why there are systems in place and why the flight deck has double safety precautions. For example, when I’m running my numbers, the CSV is also running the same numbers. If I get something wrong, the panel downstairs will likely have it correct.”

If something is wrong with the aircraft, or calculations leading up to the launch, the shooters won’t launch the aircraft until the problem is corrected.

“We might delay a launch because something is out-of-order or unsafe, but there’s always the dual-safety feature to help us make sure nothing goes wrong,” said Beam. “It’s natural there’s going to be mistakes because of how busy the flight deck is. We fi x problems on the spot and conduct debriefs, which are important to have.”

A lot of factors go into the safety of flight operations. The adaptability shooters have to recognize problems and create on-the-spot solutions is a major contribution to executing this mission efficiently – with safety as the top priority.