Science with Shelby

Landing on an aircraft carrier is an extremely challenging task. A shortened moving runway surrounded by the mighty oceans makes it only harder.

But pilots( especially navy ) are trained to land on aircraft carriers and a couple of simple engineering designs aid in this enterprise;

The arresting gear

Arresting gear, or arrestor gear, describes mechanical systems used to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands.

There are 4 cables in separated lines that the pilots aim for whilst landing.

When the tailhook of the jet engages with the wire, the aircraft’s kinetic energy is transferred to hydraulic damping systems, this slows down the aircraft tremendously.

What if they miss?

It does happen! Pilots do miss the line while attempting to land.

They keep full speed until they are 100% sure that they hook up  ( in case they miss the cables ). Which means they are still at full speed for about 2 seconds at the end with the cable extended to max.

If they don’t hook up to the line, they simply go around.

Vertical Landing

Some jets also have the ability to vertically land on the flight deck.

They are known as VTOL’s ( Vertical take off and landing ) aircrafts.They can hover, take off, and land vertically.

Catching aircrafts with a net

The barricade/barrier system/crash net is quite literally a net that is used to slow down an aircraft.

It is employed only under emergency situations or for aircrafts that operate without a tailhook.

                     A successful landing without a nosewheel

The barricade webbing engages the wings of the landing aircraft, wherein energy is transmitted from the barricade webbing through the purchase cable to the arresting engine.

That’s all folks!

So you’ve exsanguinated your 400 guys to get the iron for your sword. Cool. But now you have 400 bodies lying around.

Why not put those to good use and cremate them. Use the carbon from those 400 bodies (you won’t need all of them) and now you can make a nice mid-high carbon steel sword.