Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Halo on November 03, 2003, 06:06:45 PM

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: Halo on November 03, 2003, 06:06:45 PM

Okay you WWII Navy experts, was it possible for an arresting cable on any WWII aircraft carrier to throw an aircraft BACK off the carrier into the water after the aircraft landed and caught a cable?

How many cables were strung for landings?  Were all equally effective or were some less effective than others?

It's my impression that after an aircraft hook caught a cable, the cable reeled forward under tension to slow and stop the aircraft, then the cable was slackened to the deck.  I've never seen or heard of anything like any cable then reversing backward.  Seems like an impossible quirk that designers and everyone else would never tolerate.

Is this impression right or wrong?

As you probably know, in Aces High there are many gripes (mine included) about being thrown back off a carrier after landing successfully.  

I pull back the throttle and cut the engine and sometimes it still happens, apparently at random.  

Point is, no matter what the pilot does, the cable should never throw the plane off the cv.  True or false?  If true, Aces High should fix this bug, right?

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: DFunited on November 07, 2003, 09:55:00 PM

Not that I know of.  I did a little research, only thing i found was that a plane got knocked off the deck after a plane before it would not move off the runway.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: zmeg on November 07, 2003, 10:39:09 PM

The only time this will ever happen is if you dont cut your throttle all the way, you might need to check the calibration on your joystick. Also you might roll off the back if the carrier is turning.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: Halo on November 07, 2003, 11:31:27 PM

zmeg, I'm looking for actual historical problems with real carrier arresting cables, not in Aces High or any other game simulation.  

So far I can't find any historical examples to excuse this persistent bug in Aces High II.  If this was not a problem in real aircraft carriers, it should be fixed so it is not a problem in Aces High.

The basic idea of an aircraft getting yanked back off an aircraft carrier by any arresting cable is preposterous.  No Navy would tolerate such a design flaw.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: Furball on November 08, 2003, 01:14:35 PM

Quote

Originally posted by zmeg
The only time this will ever happen is if you dont cut your throttle all the way, you might need to check the calibration on your joystick. Also you might roll off the back if the carrier is turning.

well, thats BS.

I got cata-ma-pulted back from a cv in a f4u4 with no engine.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: Replicant on November 08, 2003, 04:02:18 PM

I been catapulted off the back too, both conventional landing and deadstick.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: redphoenix on November 18, 2003, 04:55:35 PM

OK... the real thing...

The cable rolls out from its spool and has tension on it until the operator releases the clutching mechanism... the deck crew pulls the cable off the hook and signals the pilot (WHO HAS HIS BRAKES SET) to raise his hook... then the cable is retracted and re-clutched... the pilot then release his brakes and follows taxing instructions....

OK... Aces High...

I rolled of the back once... after that I keep my brakes on UNTIL I EXIT MISSION OR RE-ARM IS COMPLETE! I raise my tailhook on re-arms... apply throttle and release brakes and I am off again.

BRAKES...

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: Halo on November 18, 2003, 11:37:52 PM

So far I still cannot find any historical example of aircraft being slingshot off the back of a carrier by arresting cables.  

In Aces High, however, this has happened to me and apparently others even after applying brakes.

That's another question:  When do real life navy pilots apply the brakes as their aircraft land to a carrier's arresting cables?  On touchdown?  After coming to a halt?  Or only after the cable slackens?  

C'mon you mariners -- some of you must have enough real Navy experience to definitively answer these questions about Navy carrier arresting cables.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: redphoenix on November 19, 2003, 04:41:02 AM

Me thinks thoust had too much ale and did not hit the 'brake' key...;)

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: Corsair on November 19, 2003, 06:05:07 AM

Planes on the deck were never catapauled back into the sea, engine on or off. The decks also had friction, unlike the bs cv decks we have. Also, the tail hooks were on the TAIL, not the main wheels.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: skernsk on November 19, 2003, 06:57:10 AM

Want to do a neat trick.  Roll backwards on the CV .. the as you are moving backwards .. hit 'H' or whatever is mapped to your hook.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: Reschke on November 19, 2003, 11:50:13 AM

As far as I know there were no "historical" references to accidents involving someone getting slung off the carrier deck backwards to a retracting cable. Just from seeing what it looks like in modern day films you see on Discovery Wings the cable retracts quickly but not quick enough to pull an aircraft with brakes on backward.

Title: WWII CV Cable Safety
Post by: zmeg on November 19, 2003, 05:48:32 PM

You never see b17's or goons landing saftly on decks either, or any plane without a hook for that matter.

Title: I'll ask 6guns to comment on this
Post by: rshubert on November 30, 2003, 11:59:32 AM

since he has hundreds of traps in skyraiders and skyhawks under his belt.

Title: cables
Post by: Rolling on December 13, 2003, 01:09:00 AM

I don't know about WWII, but nowadays the aircraft traps, arresting cable slows it, they raise the hook, and the greenshirt signals to retract the wire. I've never even heard of anything like that. I've seen it in person on the Kitty Hawk, Lincoln, and the Connie. Damn I miss the flight deck.