Sunday, July 3, 2016

Software is About To Change U.S. Naval Carrier Aviation Forever



Navy Times: Navy fighters are one upgrade away from changing carrier aviation forever

ABOARD CARRIER GEORGE WASHINGTON OFF NORFOLK, Va. – In a typical aircraft carrier landing, a fighter pilot may make up to 300 adjustments with the stick and throttle over 18 seconds before hitting the deck and snagging the jet's tail hook just-so across one of four arresting wires.

It's one of the most dangerous and stressful jobs in the world because of that landing, but a revolutionary program that's as simple as a software upgrade will take a lot of the scrambling out of the final seconds of a combat mission.

It's called MAGIC CARPET, and — don't laugh — it stands for Maritime Augmented Guidance with Integrated Controls for Carrier Approach and Recovery Precision Enabling Technologies. What is does is put jets into a sort of automatic landing mode that guides the plane's trajectory to the deck and reduces the frantic adjustments out of the process.

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WNU Editor: This is a huge step in making naval aviation safer .... and the above video from Boeing explains how it will be done. But for those who have an interest in pursuing a career in naval aviation .... but are afraid that computers are going to take over everything .... fear not as this post explains ....  Sorry, R2-D2: Computers Aren't Replacing Fighter Pilots (Michael Peck, National Interest).

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