October, 2000
Im not one to brag or make light of my own acheivements in life, but in this case I can honestly state a fact. "I worked in one of the 3 most dangerous jobs in the world!"
Being a teenager just out of high school in 1972 without a job and no prospects in sight, I had to make one of those "Y" in the road decisions we sometimes are confronted with. Either continue starving or volunteering for military service. I just happened to have aquired earlier in the year my draft number from good ole Uncle Sam, 298 I believe when 350 was the cut-off. I was done, and more than likely bound for Vietnam soon. So I did what every other right minded kid would have done to avoid carrying a rifle in some foxhole and witnessing pain and agony much less my own, I joined the Navy.
"I haven't the slightest idea where Im going or what Im doing"
So Im fresh out of Boot Camp in San Diego with orders to report to "A" school in Memphis Tennessee. Before I joined I had inquired with my cousin Don Mesquit who had just been discharged from the Air Force and his best friend Tommy Benato who had also just been discharged from the Navy. I was looking for some tid-bits of information from their experiences that would help me make this important life decision. So out of these conversations I decided I didn't want to go to Germany or some other foriegn country in the Air Force. Also, I was very concerned about living aboard a sinking ship! So I chose Airplanes aboard ship? How I came to that resolve, im not sure to this day except Tommy had mentioned, "if you join the Navy, be an "Airdale", you will work at the bottom of the ship if you don't as a "Blackshoe", and you will never see the light of day or breath the fresh air again, literally! Tommy's second piece of advise was "make sure you sign up with a gauranteed "A" school program.
Now Im in Memphis, I take all the fundamental classes and tests for engine technician and my counselor says, "the aircraft jet engine billet is filled up, we can offer you sheet metal or the aircraft hydraulics billet?" I chose hydraulics of which I hadn't a clue what it was. So I graduate after 4 months of intense schooling 4th in class out of 45 students, a natural to my suprise.
Everybody in the Navy at this point of their rookie first year are pretty nervous about now not knowing where they are going to send you next, maybe that dreaded ship! So we wait for our next set of orders to arrive. I filled out what the government calls a "Dream Sheet" at the beginning of the school session that I believe to this day was used to let you do just that, Dream. If I remember correctly, out of 10, I had picked 4 or 5 west coast locations, a couple each southern and midwest locations, and 1 east coast location, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Guess which dream I got - Virginia Beach! The orders said TAD (temporary assigned duty) "Sea Duty" with Atkron 42, Nas Oceana Virginia, A6E Intruder Plane Captain. This is NOT exactly what I would call my dream!
"Is it possible Im a little over my head"
Up to this time I had heard rumors from the other veteran sailors that working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier was a life or death situation at best especially at night. I just ignored the comments or maybe I subconsciously resisted to believe it out of fear. What the heck was a Plane Captain. It didn't sound like a hydraulic technician to me, did they make a mistake? Wrong. Come to find out, being a Plane Captain for a specific period of time (12 mos) was the norm before you qualified to work in the hydraulic shop.
What is a Plane Captian you might ask? Besides the pilots, he's the guy that has the most intimate relationship with the aircraft. He feeds it, washes it, inspects it, starts, launches, retrieves it, and actually finds himself talking to it in language I cannot repeat here! Basically he's the one that certifies that the aircraft is safe and ready for a combat mission. Now we are talking some real pressure here that a 19 year old quite possibly isn't ready to handle.
One of my favorite tasks of performing this incredibly important job was doing the walkaround with the flight crew. This is where your work is scruitinized to a tee and questions are asked of you to answer in a completely positive manner with a paper trail of truth backing you. You see, the PC has had to have made sure all the shops have done their routine and special maintenence on the aircraft with the proper signed documentation before the flight crew sets foot on that airplane. If the aircraft has a major in-flight failure and you haven't done your homework on getting the plane in tip-top shape, "your ass is grass" as they say! So I enjoyed walking around with the pilots because I knew I had done an excellent and thourough job for them because I didn't want my ass to be grass! Then you could talk to them in normal fashion like, hows the wife and kids and did you have a nice weekend or something instead of standing there in stark terror thinking, did I remember to check the hydraulic fluid level in the main reservoir and how I would answer that routine question.
"Jet Pilots are Ego Maniacs"
There were always a few pilots though that always displayed a macho by the book stone faced and cocky stature that was always intimidating to me. I realized later after I completed my tour that these type of pilots deserved to act however they wanted towards us enlisted pukes. You see, I believe in order for a pilot to be the best and to take the risks he needs to take in order to protect you and me in a combat situation, he needs a GIGANTIC EGO to do so. If your life depends on a single jet pilots actions in the cockpit, I want him to believe he can do and be anything he wants to be. It just comes with the territory.
"Now this is the scarey part of a Plane Captains job"
The next thing he does time after time on a daily basis is assist the flight crew in strapping them into the ejection seat in the cockpit. I had attended 3 weeks training on the GRU5 & GRU7 ejection seats before becoming a Plane Captain and Im glad the Navy spared no expense in these classes. Not only do you help them to get comfortable in the seat, you also arm the seat. That is to say, you pull all the safety pins (7) out to make the seat ready for firing the pilot out of the aircraft when he's in an emergency situation. These life saving seats travel around 200 mph in 1 second, or just under 300 feet per second! You can imagine what would happen to both the pilot and the plane captain if there were an accident on the ground. Probably a mess you wouldn't want to witness! Oh yes, the GRU7 seat is powered by a series of fuel rockit motors underneath it and they burn around 4000 degree's! This is just one of the many daily tasks enjoyed by the trained plane captain. Then, try doing this service aboard ship while the engines are running in pitch black darkness at midnight in the middle of the ocean with aircraft screaming by at 200 mph. Now we're talking about a real scary existance. You had better know what you are doing and right now or your kicked off the flight deck never to return. Click here to see just how close those Jets are to you aboard ship!
"There is life after being a Plane Captain"
It turned out that squadron VA-42 was a shore based training outfit for the A6 Intruder Attack Bomber and that shipboard duty for me happened 2 or 3 times a year for about 3 to 4 weeks at a time. So this wasn't so bad compared to those poor souls on reglular duty floating out there for months at a time married to their aircraft. I eventually made 3rd class petty officer and was finally transfered to the hydraulics shop. The shop was a good solid learning experience which i'll not bore you with now, but to say it complimented my experience I performed on the flight line as a troubleshooter greatly.
"So is this my dream job"
They say the top 3 most dangerous jobs in the world are 1. Oil well fire Fighting, 2. Flight deck Duty, 3. Law Enforcement. I tend to believe Flight deck Duty is number 1 for these reasons:
A. If your not paying attention, you'll be blown overboard into the sea from 100 feet up, which i've witnessed once, possibly never to be found again especially at nite. I came close to this myself, once!
B. Sucked into a Jet Engine Intake maiming and probably killing you instantly.
C. Wiped out by the failure of the aircraft arresting cable that stops the plane on landings.
D. Crashing aircraft on the flight deck due to pilots stupidity or equipment failure.
E. Dismemberment of limbs on catapult takeoff of aircraft should you forget its a missile.
F. Walking into a ghost-propeller at night without being able to see or hear your way.
Do I need to go on here, I think not!
I think you get the picture. As I See It, this is the ultimate danger job in the world and I survived it and it wasn't a dream or on my sheet!
