Roaming majestically over the oceans of the world, the modern aircraft carrier is the largest warship to ever sail the seas. Displacing over 90,000 tones, more than 1000 feet long and over 200 ft wide, with 4 acres of armored steel flight deck towering above the water, a nuclear powered Nimitz class carrier can transport 6000 men and women on a voyage of 1 million nautical miles at a top speed exceeding 40 knots. The center piece of a mighty task force of escorting vehicles, this floating city can be home, workplace and battle station to its crew for months at a time, projecting overwhelming military force to the far corners of the world. Nimitz can detect threats 500 km. away and launch supersonic fighter every 20 seconds to intercept them. She is a masterpiece of military engineering.
To understand how Nimitz became the most powerful aircraft carrier ever built means travelling back to 1916. Almost as soon as people learned to fly, the US navy saw the potential of launching warplanes from the deck of a ship. That ship was USS North Carolina. Reaching take off speeds requires a long runway. But the decks of warships were cramped with weapons and equipment.
Catapults are at the working hearts of the Nimitz carrier. Without the catapults, there is no way to get the aircraft in the air to carry out their missions. It’s basically just a giant slingshot. In the Nimitz carrier, it’s the work of the shooter to tune the catapult to launch the aircraft of different sizes. They take the weight of the aircraft and the wind speed that are in the deck of the ship and use that to determine a setting that they put into the catapult system to shoot it off the front. Each catapult has enough muscle to throw a land rover a kilometer away. On land, it takes over 1500 meters to get an F18 airborne but the steam catapult does it in less than 100 meters.
HMS Arc Royal was launched in 1937. She became the mother of all the modern aircraft carriers. Her deck was made clear for landings. Her layout provided the template for every template including the Nimitz carrier. The flight deck of Nimitz has been called the most dangerous work place on earth. The crew must dodge winds, jets and blades as they fuel, load and park multi-million dollar warplanes. Engineers mirror the layout of the flight deck in miniature form to keep track of and the coming and going of each aircraft. Nimitz can operate more aircrafts than any other aircrafts in the world, up to 90 warplanes.
From the time of the earliest carriers, engineers have experimented ways of slowing planes by using the so called arrester wires. The earliest systems consisted of a pair of ropes attached to air bags. As a plane lands, a hook on its tail catches a wire and pulls it forward. Beneath the deck, this action forces a ram into a cylinder filled with fluid. The plane’s momentum is dampened as the fluid is squeezed up with a tube and through an opening, made even smaller by closing the metal. An elegant idea but in practice, snagging a single wire proved difficult for pilots. So the engineers lined up several wires, one behind the other to increase the chances of a successful grab, but even this didn’t guarantee success. Even in Nimitz carrier, trapping the wire has become even more difficult. Jets hit the deck so fast that the pilots have precious little time to guide their planes on to the wire. It’s so hard that pilots have to practice over a hundred simulated landings before they are allowed to try the real thing.
During WWII, the deck of the carrier became vulnerable to enemy bombers. Protecting the deck from bombs demanded a total rethinking and this is what doubled the size of the aircraft carrier. The deck of the aircraft carrier was replaced by armored steel. This caused the ship to become unstable due to increased weight. To accommodate this, the haul had to be made wider. But this made the ship lose its speed. So the ship was streamlined more. This made it longer but also heavier at the same time. The deck of the Nimitz carrier is also made of steel. But it isn’t an armored plated. It doesn’t need to be. No attacking aircraft should ever get close enough to drop a bomb on it. Hence, the layers of high tech protection stands in the way. First, long range radar scans the sky for intruders. Should there be any, she directs her fleet of F18 fighters to intercept and destroy them. If an enemy missile does get through, it will meet her next line of defense, a ring of missiles armed warships. Finally Nimitz can unleash her own missiles, each capable of destroying anything that gets less than 8 kilometers. These defense systems are operated by the tactical team from a bunker deep within the Nimitz.
Landing on a Nimitz carrier is not an easy task. The main problem was that fast jets also had to land fast. This left their pilots with less time to find the correct angle of approach. If they came in too steep, the aircraft would deck too hard but if their approach was too shallow, the risk was clipping the stern of the ship. Engineers found that the optimal angle of descent was 3 degrees. But it was almost impossible for a pilot to get this right every time. In slower propeller planes, pilots have time to respond to instructions from a man on the flight deck. They used paddles to help guide the planes down.
The previous fleet of aircraft carriers would run out of action due to fuel. The Nimitz class carriers come with nuclear power to fuel it. To protect the crew from harmful radiations, the engineers must seal the reactors with hundred of tones of lead. This increases the weight of the ship massively. So the ship was made using the honeycomb structure. This took the weight of the nuclear reactors. The Nimitz class aircraft carriers need to be refueled once in every 20 years. There are two reactors which supply her with all the power she needs. The electricity is distributed through 1500 miles of cables to support the city in the sea.
In Nimitz carrier, 6000 heads lie on 14,000 pillow cases between 28,000 sheets. Each day cooks prepare 18,000 meals from their supply of 120,000 eggs, 15,000 kilos of potatoes and 11,000 kilos of meat. Over the past years, this floating community has demonstrated its power by delivering air power straight to the heart of the enemy. Nimitz was commissioned in 1975. She proved to be so successful that the US Navy has now 10 of them.
Gerald R Ford – the newest aircraft carrier by USA
The Gerald Ford replaces the Nimitz carrier. A fleet of 10 nuclear warships were designed in the late 1960’s and were commissioned in May 1975. The Nimitz class is still on operation but in 1996, US Navy needed a new ship for the 21st century. The navy wanted to house at least 75 aircraft in the new carrier deck and wanted a better nuclear energy system. Some innovations stand out from the Nimitz class carriers. First is something called the Flexible Infrastructure Architecture. This is a modular design concept. So, if the navy wants to convert a room used for storage into a board room, it can do that without having to hire crews to take care of the work. Another innovation is the advanced weapons elevator. Relying on electromagnetic fields instead of cables, these massive elevators can elevate twice as much load as its predecessors. Another innovation is the advanced electromagnetic aircraft launch system. Previous versions used were steams and cables. The new system can launch a fighter jet every 45 seconds. And then there is the multi function radar, known as the dual band radar which means fewer antennas spin and fewer people are needed to maintain it.
THE PRINCESS OF UAV
Military science has come way ahead than in the ancient age. With the introduction of fighter planes for dog fight, the technology has evolved with combat manned aircraft to un-manned aircraft. Yes, this is the new generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, popularly called UAV or sometime Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV). Out of many UAV’s the most famous and widely used is Predator, which was used extensively by United State Air Force in Iraq invasion and Afghanistan war.
The predator operates remotely under the supervision of three trained air force personnel. One is the pilot where as the other two are sensor operators. But the total team comprises of 55 personnel monitoring different aspect of the machine. The system is fed input via ground equipment and a satellite ready component known as the Predator Primary Satellite Link. Interestingly, four predator aircraft units make up one full predator group while normally the transportation of the machine is done through the mighty Hecules C-130. Being a UAV, the predator requires very less runway and has stable landing gear system with a retractable tricycle landing gear.
The world doesn’t know much about the man behind this incredible machine. He is Abraham E. Karem, the designer of this machine that turned drones from reliable oddities into military necessities. This started as a technological revolution but has now spread to civil aviation as well. Constructed of graphite epoxy composites and lighter than an economy car, the MQ-1 Predator, built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) of Poway, California, is powered by a four-cylinder Rotax 914 piston engine—an Austrian motor used in ultra light sport aircraft—and cruises at a speed of 84 mph. With long, thin wings that stretches 55 feet 9 inches, it is also blessed with the AGM- 114 Hellfire missiles. Born in Iraq, Karem was raised in Israel. At a young age of 13, Karem fell in love with Aeronautics and started to build his own model aircraft and later earned a pilot license. He also earned Aeronautical Engineering degree from the prestigious Technion Institute of Technology, Israel. During his college days and as an Air Force officer, Karem learnt to design and maintain real aircraft. He later joined Israel Aircraft Industry and soon was in the line of becoming Executive Vice President of the company. He later left the company and started pursuing his dream of building a better UAV system. But with a lot of problems from the government, Karem finally left Israel for USA with his wife Dina and started the regime of UAV’s.
Predator first came into the picture, when it was used more like an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle and fired the first missile as dog fighter aircraft over Afghanistan, on 7th October, 2001. That was the time when the US military had handful of UAV’s, but now it has more than 8,000 such machines. Prior to Predator, the military used different, smaller version of drones as Aerial Torpedoes. But in the Vietnam War, a jet propelled drone was used where reconnaissance was too risky. The plan with full pace started since then to build up high altitude, supersonic spy drone to keep an eye on China and then USSR. Era of 70/80 was the hit and trial version of different type of unmanned war machine. Different projects got executed from MQM-105 Aquila, the catapult launched UAV, from Lockheed Martin. The project was worth 1 billion dollar but later was cancelled by Pentagon. After that, Boeing came up with the Condor, but that was cancelled also. DARPA launched their own version of U-2, but only one came into existence and the production was cancelled.
The predator called RQ-1 got its name after it was extensively used for Reconnaissance, the initial letter R. Also the letter Q signifies, unmanned and 1 indicating the initial system series. On the other hand Predator-XP signifies the export version of the predator. There are various variant of this incredible machine.
Namely:
Predator XP,
Features/Benefits:
- Multi-mission
- Triple-redundant flight control system
- Redundant flight control surfaces
- Auto takeoff and landing system
- Remotely-piloted or fully autonomous
- Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) data link
- High Definition (HD) camera systems
- Lynx Multi-mode Radar
- Claw sensor payload control
Gray Eagle
Features/Benefits:
- Technologically advanced derivative of the combat proven Predator
- Dedicated to direct operational control by U.S. Army field commanders
- Unprecedented reliability
- Triple-redundant avionics and flight controls
- Redundant flight control surfaces
- Common Data Link (CDL) Line-of-Sight (LOS) communications/air data Satellite communications
- Open, modular architecture supports integration of 3 payloads simultaneously, with capacity for growth
- Automatic takeoff and landing reduces pilot workload
- De-icing system
- HFE offsets the logistical need for special fuels on the battlefield
- Controlled by the U.S. Army One System Ground Control Station (OSGCS)
- C-130 transportable
Improved Gray Eagle
Features/Benefits:
- Technologically advanced derivative of the combat proven Gray Eagle UAS o Increased endurance (up to 48 hours)
- Dedicated to direct operational control by U.S. Army field commanders
- Unprecedented reliability o Triple-redundant avionics and flight controls o redundant flight control surfaces
- Common Data Link (CDL) line-of-sight communications/air data relay communications
- Satellite communications
- Open, modular architecture supports integration of three payloads simultaneously, with capacity for growth
- Automatic takeoff and landing reduces pilot workload
- De-icing system
- HFE offsets the logistical need for special fuels on the battlefield
- Controlled by the U.S. Army One System Ground Control Station (OSGCS)
- C-130 transportable
Predator B Features:
- Triple-redundant flight control system
- Redundant flight control surfaces
- Remotely piloted or fully autonomous
- MIL-STD-1760 stores management system
- 7 external stations for carriage of payloads
- C-Band line-of-sight data link control
- Ku-Band Beyond Line-of Sight (BLOS)/SATCOM data link control
- Over 90% system operational availability
- C-130 transportable (or self-deploys)
Certifiable Predatory B (Developmental)
Features/Benefits:
- Compliant with NATO flight certification and other standards o STANAG 4671/UK DEFSTAN 00-970 o DO-254A, DO-160B, DO178C
- Remotely piloted or automatic
- Automatic takeoff and landing capability
- Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)
- Triple-redundant avionics/dual redundant flight controls
- De-ice, lightning protection, fire detection systems
- MIL-STD-1760 Stores Management System
- 9 external stores stations
- C-Band line-of-sight data link
- Ku-Band SATCOM data link
- Provisions for DRR retrofit kit
- Certifiable GCS
- DO-254 compliant multicore computer
- DO-178 flight control software
- Certified displays and full payload separation
Predator C Avenger Features:
- Jet performance and reliability
- Reduced detection features
- Internal stores carriage
- Multiple payload capacity
- Retractable Electo-optic/ Infrared (EO/IR) gimbal
- Triple-redundant avionics
- Dual-redundant flight controls
- Six external hard points
- Compatible with all GAASI GCS
- C-5/C-17 transportable (or self-deploy)
Proving Flight- Himalaya Airlines
A Happy and joyous environment for Himalayan Airlines, flying along with so many known and cheerful faces was a feeling that was new to each one of us.
Himalaya Airlines has been the talk of the town lately in every corner of Nepal. The airlines company is being optimistically sighted as the most revolutionary changes in the aviation of Nepal, as it brings with it a new hope for Nepalese people, opportunities for young capable countrymen, a sense of international competitiveness posed by a private company – a helping hand to our National carrier to boost our Nepalese economy. The most popular aircraft around the world – Airbus A320 with Aircraft Registration Number 9N-ALM and Manufacturer’s Serial Number 6626, was most heartily welcomed by the company praying for its huge success and longevity to keep piercing further in the blue international sky on 9th of March 2016 . Since then the commercial operation of Himalaya Airlines has been anxiously awaited by countless people, scheduled to fly from the second week of April 2016. To complete the national regulatory requirements, proving flight of the aircraft was scheduled on 30th of March 2016 at 0700 hours in morning from Kathmandu to Delhi and Delhi to Kathmandu selected as the route for approval.
Before going down with the experience, let’s be acquainted briefly with the word ‘Proving Flight’ in simple words. Out of many researched functional standards highly set by the respective competent regulators for any airlines company for its continuous and airworthiness operation, Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) is one of the most basic requirements. The most basic information AOC provides is what type and how many aircraft a company operates. Proving Flight is a pre-requisite to Air Operator’s Certificate holders that is when an airline purchases or leases a new type of aircraft, be it for the first time or addition of fleets, the company as an applicant has to do proving runs to show that it has the capability of operating that particular aircraft.
Some of the general requirements of a proving flight are: a representative selection of destinations intended to be serviced by the AOC holder; adequate time must be planned at each port to allow for inspection of applicant’s ground staff, procedures and facilities, and to enable inspection of dispatch preparation, aircraft loading, passenger processing and aircraft servicing. To give the flight a more realistic approach, the operator may be asked to carry operator’s staffs, and others to simulate a passenger load, along with cargo and equipment. A proving flight is basically not a revenue generating service because Air Operator’s Certificate is always issued after this test which has to ensure that all systems previously inspected separately can work together in real time to produce a safe and compliant operation.
Now, going back to the story, as planned selective staffs from all departments was mailed to reach airport at 0700 hours in the morning. We all gathered and together we went inside the airport through Departure area after receiving our respective tickets. Once we entered, we were verbally told to go to Counter Number 16 and 17 for check-in process. The counters didn’t have display screen which we are sure will be seen once the commercial flight begins. But queue separation strap coloured with our company’s brand color ‘Blue’ was distinct and visible.
After finishing the immigration procedure, we all waited in the Departing/Waiting Hall for about two hours, while all the passengers including Civil Aviation Authority officers (from departments of Airworthiness, Flight Safety, Flight Operations and others) and Himalaya Airlines staffs kept on congregating to fly in the new giant bird. At around 0902 hours Captain and cabin crews with their company attire arrived at the hall, air hostesses flaunting the Brand Blue colour of Himalaya Airlines looked distinct and lovely, went towards aircraft to perform their duties. On came the announcement in the Hall addressing our Aircraft’s name and Registration Number was a moment of pride for us, as described by Miss Anupa Dhungel.
We all headed towards aircraft at around 0947 hours, where before boarding the aircraft we met our Line Maintenance Division seniors and colleagues. Then, we boarded the aircraft at 0957 hours where we were warmly welcomed by our smiling cabin crews. The outlook of our aircraft was nice and clean with blue floor and maroon seats. We took our seat as per our boarding pass which was Row 16 and 17(A,B,C) – Left seats were named A,B,C where as Right seats were D,E,F.
Our aircraft was headed by Captain Oltra Pierre (FRA) and Capt. Laurent Chevillard (FRA). Cabin crew team was lead by Mrs. Marina (CHN), as Purser and there were four Senior Cabin Crews, eight flight attendants/airhostess taken aboard as Super Numerary, among which seven were Nepalese and one from Thailand. Capt. Gaberiele Ascenzo(CAD) as Observer, had a warm presence in the whole duration of flight. Flight Operations Inspectors – Capt. Deepak Lama and Capt. B.M. Amatya along with, Airworthiness Inspector – Er. Bidhan Shrestha, Cabin Crew Inspector Mr. Rajendra K. Neupane, Director General Manohar SJB Rana and Flight Performance Inspector Hirajan Kafle were all respectfully placed in their respective seating. Er. Sameer Basnet (Maintenance Control Engineer) with ramp jacket was busy and calm as always, while two Aircraft Maintenance Engineers – Er. Luo Wen (CHN) and Er. Chen Honggang (CHN) were seated comfortably to ensure the Transit Inspection at Delhi Airport be performed properly and safely.
The announcement from Captain came for our departure at 1023 hours which announced the standard time to reach Delhi of 1 hour 20 minutes at altitude of 11300 meters or 38000 feet. Flight dispatcher waved for doors closing and ladder detachment at 1036 hours. Mrs. Marina, with a calm and composed voice asked for Doors armed cross check to be done and informed us with detailed information of flight safety while safety demo was swiftly performed by our cabin crews. Our aircraft was pushed back at 1040 hours, Engine start and Controls check was done at 1041 hours and started taxiing at 1043 hours. As we moved to Runway 02 from the Taxi Lane, we ready for take-off as our heart started pumping because we sensed the power from the noise of CFM engine. We swiftly took off into the blue sky at 1100 hours and rolled right into the Flight plan set for our Flight Number H9003. The retraction flaps set us into an undisturbed cruising altitude towards Delhi. The atmosphere inside the cabin was both tranquil at times and noisy at time with cabin crews hustling forth and back in the aisle.
Exactly 20 minutes after the flight, serving of foods and drinks started to happen. As our turn came, the main difference we sensed was the delicious Nepali food in an international airline other than Nepal Airlines, which was new to each one of us, exclaimed by Mr. Rajiv Rimal. While we reached the sky over Lucknow, Captain announced that we were not flying at the planned altitude of 11300 meters but at 9800 meters and 800 kph because of traffic overload, further apprised we will be feeling a bit of turbulence on the way which ensured necessary communication to be made by pilots at regular interval along the flight segment. Though cabin temperature was properly maintained we all felt a bit warm in the cabin but it may be because our attire had sweaters. Anyways, weather was hazy all the way where temperature ranging between 28-29 degrees Outside Air Temperature. Healthy and happy environment was wonderful to see as everyone was busy taking pictures and selfies.
Our aircraft started descending at 1155 hours as we rolled right towards Delhi airport. Though announcement of approach was made at 1206 hours but our aircraft held over till 1231 hours when 4 outboard spoilers extended above Lotus Temple. Full Ground spoiler assisted touchdown was made at 1241 hours. Aircraft taxied for six minutes towards Evacuation Assembly Area 5 where Jet-way to disembark us was attached to our front Aircraft Door. Due to time delay in the plan made by our management, we were told that we have to immediately head into transfer area and check in departure to Kathmandu at 1500 hours. Strolling past the duty free area we headed to Gate No. 6 after security checks for departure to Kathmandu. We boarded back to our aircraft at 1456 hours, slowly after several arrangements and passengers scattering problem, aircraft door was closed at 1528 hours. Aircraft was pushed back, towed and engine start and controls check were completed at 1536 hours. We left Delhi at full power at 1548 hours, then banked and rolled right towards the northeast at cruising altitude at 1553 hours. Reached the sky of Lucknow, at 1616 hours where we were told 45 minutes approximate time to reach Kathmandu. Along the way we were served snacks and drinks. Aircraft descended from the cruising altitude of 11300 meters at 700 kph, at a region 20 minutes away from Kathmandu. We noticed spoilers’ retraction then felt landing gear deployment at 1656 hours and also spotted Fasten Seat Belt and No Smoking Lights were on due to bad weather while approaching Kathmandu airport. We touched down at 1700 hours and reached our parking zone at 1705 where our journey ended with the shutting down of engines.
In conclusion, we all felt safe and comfortable inside the aircraft. The general service we experienced was at its best. When our airline would hit commercial market, people are going to have a beautiful experience flying.
