On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:21:46 +0000, "Paul J. Adam"
wrote:

In message ,
writes
Oh, and a jet that's shut down poses no danger; you can still raise a
fine knot on your head walking into a still prop! :-)

Been there, done that, luckily no scar to show for it...

Like I say, most flight deck personnel I've ever known say they don't
really like prop aircraft on a carrier deck. Whodda ever thunk you
might ever hear wisdom from an Aviation Boatswain?!?!?!?!?! :-)

Ya know, this idea of asking the folks who actually do the hard work
might catch on.

On my first "fly off" I was riding shotgun with my regular aircraft
commander. It was a really lousy North Atlantic day in early spring.
The gale was strong enough that we had to steam downwind to spread the
blades on the helos. We had intermittant white water over the bow.
We were about #5 for launch when our yellow shirt (taxi director), on
my side, caught a gust and was being slowly blown into our prop arc.
I hit the CAPC in th arm and pointed and he said, "be ready to punch
the feather button as I pull the mixture" (hitting him with the flat
of the blade would knock him silly but likely not kill him; it would
also end our participation in the fly off).

The yellow shirt first squatted down to break his wind profile but
continued moving. About the time the CAPC put his hand on the mixture
he rolled over and caught an eye-pad in the deck and stopped his
movement.

He hesitated a second, got to his feet, and returned to his proper
place to continue to direct us. I often wonder if anyone else even
noticed. We launched uneventfully.

It does take some balls to dance in that ballet.

Bill Kambic