Aerospace Blog

After watching part of a recent PBS series called "Carrier", I thought it might be a good time to blog about my own experiences in naval aviation. While serving in the U.S. Navy, I spent more than a year and a half of my life aboard aircraft carriers. And while I have to admit that the PBS series was good with the facts, it left out some things about the everyday life of sailors.

For starters, everyday that you're out to sea is like a Monday. No days off. You're 12 hours on working and 12 hours off - either sleeping, working out, relaxing, reading, or whatever else you enjoy before going back to the grind. When you're working, the schedule varies. Because I worked on aircraft - F-18s to be exact - there's not a lot to do if nothing is wrong. Don't misunderstand me, though. There's always work to be done. Military aircraft require frequent inspections, and you're always making sure that your shop is clean or that your personal qualifications are up-to-date.

Just like the wind, things change quickly aboard an aircraft carrier A lot of times, after a full day of flying missions, the jets come back with problems. That's when the pressure goes up (a lot) to have them fixed. Things also depend on the shift you're working and the ship's flying schedule. For the most part, flight ops were during the day, which meant that the night check did most of the maintenance. The day check was usually responsible for making sure the jets were working – and that the squadron had enough functioning planes for the day's missions.

Aboard ship, we always said "it's Ground Hog Day!" That was true for the most part since everything was repetitious. When you were off work, you tried to do different things to keep you going. For example, while in your berthing (where your squadron slept and living space), you would kick back with the fellas (women had their own separate areas) and just play cards. Spades was always a favorite. Usually, people formed tight-knit groups and would hang out, just socialize, or go to the gym together.

It was nice to unwind, but there was never enough free time. Usually, when your shift was over, you just wanted to shower and go to bed since you were so tired. So in reality, you might be lucky to have three or so hours to yourself. The rest of the time, you were sleeping, showering, or eating. But there were also times you get to see some amazing things aboard an aircraft carrier.

Editor's Note: Click here for Part 2 of this multi-part series.