Woody,

In the past, the boss was the guy that cared about interval, so he was the
one hammering guys if they were too tight on the jet in front of them. Now
paddles is in on the game too.

During the Lizards' 1973 CORAL MARU cruise, one of the duties of our rep in
Pri-Fly was to jot down the arrestment-to-arrestment time interval between
each Lizard and his immediate predecessor. Lizard OPS tracked this until
about halfway through cruise, and used the data as a supplement to each
pilot's LSO-graded pass.

I thought this an excellent idea, especially as we were all but an outfit of
nuggets (the Lizards stood up as an A-6 outfit only the year before).
Further, our predecessor A-6 squadron in CVW-15, VMA(AW)-224, had had a
rather checkered deployment during CORAL MARU's 1972 cruise, so we knew that
we would be under close observation until we re-established the worthiness
of medium attack in folks' eyes.

Another thing that helped our reputation immediately with the ships company
was our scraping all the "Semper Fi" zaps and other Corps graffiti from the
Bengal's spaces (now ours). Only Gator blackshoes have the temperament to
deal with lots of red and gold on gray ships. g
--
Mike Kanze

"Never forget ... Being your own boss means being your own janitor."

- Adam @ Home, 3/27/04


"Doug "Woody" and Erin Beal" wrote in message
...
On 12/8/04 2:27 PM, in article , "John
Carrier" wrote:


"Doug "Woody" and Erin Beal" wrote in message
...
On 12/8/04 12:18 AM, in article
, "F9pnthr"

wrote:

The cover of current issue of The Hook shows four LSOs, two of whom are
using
their stopwatches. For what part of the landing are they starting and
stopping
their watches?

At least one back up paddles or writer will time groove length for the
pass
(15-17 seconds) and interval. That's part of the debrief.

Wow, times change. They run a clock vice trust the controlling LSO's
judgement?


Trick is... Where does the groove start? e.g. wings level slimin' over on
a
(AA)?

Outside of 21 seconds, and you'll get a fair for LIG (Long in the
Groove).
Inside of 11 and you'll get a fair for NESA (not enough straightaway).

No more attaboys for a combat groove, eh?


As long as it's greater than 11 seconds you're okay. Oh yes, I sort of
misspoke. It's an automatic DOWNGRADE if you goon up groove length.

R / John

I sympathize. I remember LSO's eyeball-checking groove length and
interval,
but my last cruise was the first I've ever seen the stop watch. Again
with
the fuzzy definition of where the groove starts, I sort of looked at that
stat with a jaundiced eye.

In the past, the boss was the guy that cared about interval, so he was the
one hammering guys if they were too tight on the jet in front of them.
Now
paddles is in on the game too.

Finally, the SH break (stern or prior doing big bills on the speed) will
still buy you an upgrade if you don't screw up your groove, interval, or
fly
a heinous pass (and depending on the boss's mood).

--Woody