Tailhook Daily Briefing

Powerful... From 15 Year Old Lizzie Palmer

No words... Just watch.

Bravo Zulu Lizzie...

John C. McGinley, Star of Scrubs Flies with the Blues

One of my favorite actors, John C. McGinley (whom you may know from Scrubs, Platoon, The Rock, or even Point Break) had the opportunity to take the press flight with the Blues recently.

He seemed to be properly impressed, and amazingly enough not nearly the wise ass he portrays in his many rolls.  I was a bit disappointed actually I would have loved to hear what Dr. Perry Cox would have had to say about breaking the sound barrier, or pulling six and a half G's in the break over El Centro.

Either way it's a fun Video... Enjoy...

 

Still petitioning for my ride!!! 

-ED...

Safety Checker Would Have Liked a Fresh Coat of Non-Skid!

A safety inspector on board USS Kitty Hawk gets a little too close the line of Blast from a VAQ-136 EA-6B... and goes for a slide!  Click the video below. [link]

 

CARRIER... Coming to the Small Screen Near You!

PBS is marketing its upcoming series "Carrier" as:

"...a 10-part series filmed aboard the USS Nimitz, [it] is a character-driven immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. The programs follow a core group of film participants, from the admiral of the strike group to the fighter pilots to the youngest sailors, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror."

After viewing an in depth preview of the series, it looks very well done, and unlike many Engineering style shows on networks like "The Discovery Channel" this series does indeed focus on the core of the US Navy... the people!

Understand that not all presented in this series will be a positive reflection of the life aboard a deployed aircraft carrier.  It has moments where the effects of difficult work, long separations, and personality conflicts are unabashedly presented.  Actually this is a small portion of the whole presentation and is to a degree refreshing in exposing some of the less "talked about" experiences on the boat.

Not to worry, much is also presented about the higher honor of "Serving a cause, greater than yourself!"  With plenty of intelligent thoughtful reflections on what it is to serve in today's United States Navy! 

This is not a recruiting film, however with it's "Up front" and "forthright" presentation, it may certainly serve to better condition potential Navy recruits (both officer and enlisted) that the Navy is not a movie but a life.  A life full of tradition, stories, fun times, difficult times and even impossible times... but it will teach!

Here's some thoughts on why the navy even allowed such unprecedented access to the sailors on the ship, expressed by Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead:

"...You get unvarnished views from junior personnel about their hopes, aspirations, and challenges of life in the Navy aboard the carrier.  We did not get between the film crews and the Sailors.

...This production although not an all-inclusive picture of the Navy, will give potential recruits and those who influence them a glimpse of what life is really like in the Navy.  We want the American people to know, understand and appreciate the contribution our Sailors make each and every day while deployed around the world.  We also want them to know us, not as a monolithic bureaucratic entity, but as a diverse organization of individual Americans who have set aside the comforts of home and have put themselves on the line to serve a greater cause.  You already know how inspiring our people are, but few in our Nation get to see our people in an operational environment."

All good in YHS' opinion.

VFA-122 Rhino PRoN!

A little video enjoyment for you all.  (Second half soundtrack is better to YHS's ears... nothing ever wrong with a little Jimmi Hendrix).

With Footage from VFA-122's Lt. Darnell "Shaft" Edwards here's a pretty decent video montage of the Rhino in action.

F/A-18 Rhinos West
Uploaded by Fabinou92

Surf's Up!

Making the rounds today, ran across this over at Instapinch!  Provided for those of you who yearn to get back to sea!

 

I can't wait for the stories of Midway's 35 Degree Roll!  or The Coral Maru taking "Blue Water" over the bow! or Ranger Danger's propensity to Dutch Roll herself right out from under yon returning aviator!

 

Looking for articles, pictures and "There I was tales" good folks, great stories of the Great Blue (Sea and Air) feel free to send them here.

Eurofighter -vs- Bugatti Veyron

Now here's an interesting drag race (of a sort)... No Tailhook required, but still fun for a Friday!

Here's the gist:  It is a horizontal vs vertical race.  Each have to cover a cumulative 2 miles, up and back (literally for the Eurofighter).  The car must accelerate down a mile length of runway, turn around... then hustle back to cross the start-finish line. The Eurofighter... in full blower must accelerate, climb into the vertical clear 5,280 ft(AGL) over the top, point earthward and return to cross the same Start-Finish line at a respectable minimum safe altitude. 

Now mind you, the Bugatti is quite the capable car...

The Veyron is the quickest production car to reach 60 mph in approximately 2.46 seconds. This boils down to an average acceleration of 1.18 G.

Performance

Top speed
408.47 km/h (253.81 mph) (average)
0-60 mph (97 km/h)     2.46 seconds

0-100 mph (161 km/h)  5.5 seconds
0-150 mph (241 km/h)  9.8 seconds

0-200 mph (322 km/h)  24.2 seconds
0-250 mph (402 km/h)  55 seconds

Standing quarter-mile 10.2 seconds at 143 mph (230 km/h)

Who wins?  Click play and find out.  Either way very cool stuff for gearheads and fighter jocks! 

From a standing start!

Can Someone please turn the frigg'n runway into the wind!

A little fun??? Maybe not for all involved in these harrowing Crosswind approaches, wave-offs, landings and "Poopy-suit" generators! 

Who cares that we can't understand the music the video is worth it all!

Enjoy... [Video Link]

Any of our brethren want to lay claim for the FCLP gone bad?

Efficiency In the Days of Tomcats

Get 'em in the air!

Video Link:

Raw Video of the Iranian Boats Threatening US Navy Ships in the Persian Gulf...

Raw Video from the AP of the Iranian "Go Fast" Boats Harassing US Navy Ships in the Persian Gulf!

Video Link

From News My Way:

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT and LOLITA C. BALDOR

...Video and audio recordings clearly show Iranian boats confronting U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, and a voice speaking in heavily-accented English can be heard threatening that the American vessels were going to explode, military officials said Tuesday.

The incident, which President Bush denounced Tuesday as a "provocative act," was videotaped by a crew member on the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, one of the three ships that faced down five Iranian boats in a flare-up early Sunday...

...The top U.S. Navy commander in the Gulf said an Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up the Navy convoy as it passed near but outside Iranian waters on Monday. The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and then fled as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff said. No shots were fired.

How this force commander restrained from firing any shots is amazing.  The question is... Should he have?

In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident. "That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party," he told the state news agency IRNA... [more]

"...Iran's Foreign Ministry suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels..."

Uh... Yeah!  What? Don't they watch the Discovery Channel?  Or CNN?  Trust me, the silhouette of a "Tycho Boat" is not one that can be mistaken for any other vessel!  Yep that's a Warship!  Of course, being over 600 feet long, painted Haze Gray, and flying the Old Glory from the Main might also be a clue!