He had Courage in the Night

© 2003 Boaz Rauchwerger

If our daily struggles seem overwhelming sometimes, perhaps we should turn to the experiences of others to see how they handle challenges. Jim Brady is a friend of mine who lives in Florida. He tells the following story of courage in the night.

“In June of 1962, I was a young Lieutenant in the Navy and a beginning fighter pilot. I had just received my wings and was learning to fly my fleet fighter, the Chance Vought F8 Crusader. This aircraft was capable of mach 1.9, almost twice the speed of sound.

However, because the aircraft had such high performance, it was inherently unstable and very difficult to fly in slow flight, the kind used in landing on an aircraft carrier. Also, at that time, the US Navy was still using many of the World War II carriers that were originally designed for smaller and slower prop driven aircraft. Bringing the F8 aboard the USS Shangri-La was a challenge under ideal daytime conditions.

It was time to carrier qualify in my F8. I did well during the day and made my six required landings. Until that point, I had never made a night landing. It was time for me to night qualify and the challenge was very intimidating.

You can’t imagine how dark it can be at sea during a moonless night. Total darkness and no horizon for reference! You only have some small runway lights and the “meat ball” as we called it for reference. The “meatball” is a light that projects a glide slope from the back of the ship. It is this glide slope that brings a Navy Fighter safely aboard. The rest is total blackness.

You’re flying an aircraft that weighs 26,000 pounds, landing at about 150 miles per hour. If you make a perfect approach, you will have 9.5 feet between your tail hook and the back of the ship. Many Navy pilots have lost their lives slamming into the back of a carrier.

As I got in the aircraft to start my engine, I realized how completely black the night was. I could only see the lighted wands of the flight deck personnel that would guide me to the catapult. After going through my pre-flight checks, I was signaled to begin taxing. I felt my nose wheel run up over the shuttle of the catapult, the track that would literally shoot my plane into the blackened sky.

The catapult officer signaled me to bring my engine to full power for the launch. My feet shook as I released the brakes and felt the steel hold-back bar take the strain of the aircraft at full power. The catapult fired, the bar broke and my aircraft traveled 250 feet, going from 0 to 165 knots in about 2.5 seconds. It is an awesome ride!

Well, there I was in the air and doing just fine. There was complete blackness outside! No way to tell exactly where the ship was except for a small red light on the mast.

The wind was pretty strong that night and we had 35 knots over the deck. This can be a problem because anything over 30 knots can exacerbate the effect of the wind on the deck. It creates a downdraft right behind the ship. The wind bounces off the water and creates an updraft about half a mile behind the ship.

This is very dangerous because it leads a pilot to reduce power and come in high on the visual glide slope. As he passes through the down draft close to the carrier, that can slam him into the back of the ship. It happened frequently.

I began my approach for the first landing. The light beam from the ship indicated that I was a little high in relation to the glide slope. My speed, at 132 knots, was just right so I wouldn’t break the “wire.” Because of the way the runway lights were artificially towed in on the flight deck, I began to experience vertigo. The 300-foot landing area looked longer than it was.

This landing required great discipline. If I believed what my brain was telling me, instead of what the instruments and the ship’s light beam were telling me, I could make a serious mistake and kill myself in a fireball on the back of the ship. It was the first time I was truly scared in an aircraft!

I was not at all sure I could do this and I had to do it five times to qualify. I wanted to be a Navy Fighter Pilot more than anything I had ever even thought about.

I told myself, “Jim, you are going to do this, you have what it takes, just do it and do it well.” This somehow seemed to calm me a bit and I focused on the job at hand. As I approached the back of the carrier the Landing Signal Officer called me to add a little power which I did immediately and the next thing I knew I was thrust against the shoulder straps and the aircraft was coming to a halt.

I was elated! I had done it. I did it four more times that night and hundred more times in my career as a Navy Pilot. I must honestly say that I was apprehensive every time I made a night landing on the Shangri-La. It was the most demanding thing I have ever done or ever expect to do. You cannot make a mistake in carrier aviation. One mistake and you die.

Since that time, whenever things were get a little out of control or scary, I recall that first night landing on the carrier. Then I say to myself, ‘Hey Jim, how bad can this be? You can land fighters on carriers at night. Nothing compares to that.’ And nothing ever has!”

A Daily Leadership Affirmation

I have the courage to move through frightening moments.