The Mustache Secret of Navy Carrier Pilots

Three quarters of a mile on glide slope. A little fast, working towards on speed. A little power to keep the ball energized. Meatball, line up, AOA. Here comes the burble. A little nose up trim. A little more power. Still scanning. Meatball, line up, AOA. Wave off, wave off, foul deck. All right, full power. Right boot. Maintain center line. Back up to pattern altitude. Hey, what's up? You just saw me get waved off from the USS Harry S. Truman? No big deal, safety first. I'm your host, Rob Roy. That's me on the right side of the screen, talking with my hands, as any self-respecting pilot would do, joined by my co-pilot, Mr. Mustache himself. We're probably talking about why we were waved off just now, but truth be told, I honestly can't remember the reason. But like I said, it's no big deal. We have the pattern all to ourselves, and we're going to come around and try again. Now, I'm not saying that flying the pattern for the next minute or so is necessarily boring, but I'll do you a solid and jump ahead right to the action. Now, here we are wings level on the downwind, looking to make sure I'm going to beam the back of the ship, starting my approach turn. You'll soon notice the wake of the carrier come into view. Remember, our gear is already three down and locked because we kept it down after the wave off. But nonetheless, we always, always, always run through the landing checklist, which we did earlier in our crosswind turn. You'll see us both looking out to the left throughout this approach turn. We're judging our spacing and making sure we're setting ourselves up nicely for a good start. Naval aviation is half numbers and procedures, and the other half is seat of your pants feeling and following your gut. But I'm still partially inside the cockpit and making sure my angle of bank is solid and I've got a good descent rate going. We're just passing over the wake of the ship. So far, everything is looking good. There's the boat coming into view, wrapping up my turn nicely to set ourselves up for a good wings level transition. There it is. Now we're at the start and I'm flying the ball. Meatball lineup AOA. Just got on speed, keeping it going. Meatball lineup AOA. Fighting through the verbal with the yoke. Little shot of power. Another shot of power. Stay on center line. Meatball lineup AOA. Looking good, but don't get low. Keep flying all the way to touchdown. Ball, ball, ball. Oh, that was fun, but we can't stay long. Got to get back to the beach before someone tells my co-pilot to trim his amazing mustache. See ya!