Prologue: Inertia
Code Yellow Series: Aircraft Carrier Fiction
Blogging the US Navy
Aboard the USS Gerald Ford
An airplane’s huge, dull weight, sitting on the granite-grey deck of an “air-capable” Navy carrier, collects in the sluggish quiet of its deployment, along with its internal enemy: “inertia”.
Inertia is a property of matter by which the thing, like a fighter jet aircraft, continues to exist in a state of rest, or then begins a uniform motion in a straight line, as it undergoes a change-in-status induced by an external force, like the power of a carrier takeoff.
This moment-of-inertia is a powerful combination of the two, fire-breathing, Pratt & Whitney jet engines of the aircraft being restrained and accelerated while being “hooked” or attached to the ship; simultaneously the steam powered engines deep below the surface power up an old-style “catapult” which when released, throws the jet out along a groove on a skewed angle toward the tumultuous dark-blue sea, roiling in front and below the carrier deck.
The compacted, compressed, accelerated, “moment” of flight rises quickly to a climax, an aviation miracle of sorts; allowing the process of lift and takeoff to explode forward in a fraction of the time usually allotted on dry land.
The thrust-to-weight-ratio required to overcome inertia, as sublime a calculation in aeronautics as the number of angels who can dance on the tip of a needle; centers the magic of Naval aviation, as true love binds two people in a healthy marriage.
Raising firepower up in the air in a matter of minutes, wherever needed in the world, allows the “Commander-in-chief” to force his diplomatic will with unmatched power and punishing speed.
And that is part of the secret: sheer “speed” that abolishes inertia, breaking the chains of gravity; but speed is deceptive, because of its dangerous force. Sometimes “slow” is the smoothest path, slow and deliberate, yet earnestly applied. As Navy fighter pilots often admonish younger sailors: slow is smooth, but smooth is fast!
Soaring up through the
clouds, naval aviators smoothly escape inertia, like an astronaut tied to a
rocket; exhibiting more power, carrying more payload, and moving as quickly
toward a target as a missile—in order to be a mobile, flexible, and responsive
airbase, quickly inserted into a global crisis by US military leadership at
the direction of the President. ##
No comments:
Post a Comment