I don't remember how many day carrier landings.He was the pilot in the photo below, and no he didn't get in any kind of trouble for it, regardles of what everyone on the internet says. He had permission to burn excess fuel before landing.
He gave some detai lon the F14 which I ofund very interesting. It carried 16000 pounds of fuel and with the afterburners lits would burn 2,000 pound a minute.
He was the primary test pilot for the A model. He flew one from takeoff to 58,000 feet in under 2 minutes. I believe he said 1 minute 56 seconds.
He mentioned that the F14 was capable of 28 miles a minute.
He also did testing with the wings out of sync and landed at 250 knots with one side folded all the way back and the other all the way out.
On one takeoff fro ma carrier, as he left the deck his right landing gear fell off! It damaged the tailhook and he had to do a "go-around" and then fly into the net to get it back on the deck.
Another instance he was 250 miles out from the carrier and the right engine literally blew up. He flew back on one engine and had to make a decision. He was carrying over 6 million in munitions and needed to decide if he would dump it or not. They came in with all the munitions in place and the tailhook did not catch. The ship tracked them for 4 1/2 miles BELOW the deck level of the ship which is 60 feet above the water! Finally got it back in the air refueled and made another run at it and got it in. HE said the rear seat was a little nervous. I would have bee na lot nervous!
Another time he was flying backseat with a "nugget", a new pilot. They came in for a night landing on the carrier and missed. Not enough fuel for another try so up they went to the tanker and refueled. They flew twelve attempts beofre finally getting it on the deck. "Prof" had a few choice words for the pilot and threw his knee board at him as soon as they were safely stopped. The pilot could not taxi the aircraft offof the runway as he was to frazzled. The new pilot turned in his wings the next morning as he did not want any more.
"Prof" is now retired from the military and works for Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids. He give rides in his Christensen Eagle for 1/2 of expenses. I am bummed as I cannot go because he says that 6'1" is max height he can fit in. He said he would make the ride as mild or as wild as a person would like. He did mention that he likes flying upside down.
It was a real privilege to hear this stuff first hand and to meet and shake "Prof's" hand.
The last time she would ever run.