USS Midway, San Diego

Our outing today was to visit the USS Midway in San Diego - an aircraft carrier that was in active service for 47 years from 1945 to 1992.  It was the first air-craft carrier commissioned by the USA post WWII.  We visited on the carrier's 69th birthday and one day before the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.

Sarah on board the T2 Buckeye - a plane for pilot training

We spent about two and a half hours exploring the carrier, including the flight deck, 'the island' (the tall bit that includes the control tower), the admiral's quarters and war room, the hangar and two talks by former navy aviators about the 'catapult' process' and 'arrester' process for take-offs and landings.  It was pretty mind-blowing to learn that a fighter plane takes off and lands every 45 seconds (particularly when they explain everything that's involved).

Sarah standing in front of an F/A 18 Hornet 

(in Russian colours to simulate a MIG for the Top Gun flight school)

We also learnt a few new terms:

• A dog-bone - a tiny piece of metal shaped like a dog-bone that keeps the plane from taking off until the catapult is activated;
• The meat-ball - the light that the fighter pilots use to monitor whether they are on the right guide path when coming in to land on the carrier; and
• The pickle switch - used by the LSO (Landing Signals Officer) to 'wave off' a pilot if their approach is not going according to plan.

View Larger Map

A cool interactive map that AJ created from Google maps. 

You can zoom in and out as you please!