Navalising An Aircraft

[Hobbes]

I came across a photo of an E-2 landing on a carrier.



Notice the rippling of the fuselage?
We've talked about what's involved in navalising an aircraft, but this image rather brings the point home.  

[upnorth]

It also reinforces Grumman's reputation for building an aircraft like the proverbial brick sh*t house.

Its no surprize to see the fuselage rippling where it is if you can imagine how much more gravity is affecting the region right under the rotodome from the added weight of it.

I suspect if you built a Hawkeye with an active array rather than a rotodome the weight would be distributed much better on landing and you wouldn't see that rippling.

[Hobbes]

You may be right. I assumed the rippling was due to the force pulling on the arrestor hook, but you can see the wire hasn't extended far yet so the force on the hook shouldn't be huge.
Maybe the photo was taken right after touchdown, so you're seeing the effect of the vertical deceleration? I don't know, do they touch down before or after trapping the wire?  

[Jennings]

if you can imagine how much more gravity is affecting the region right under the rotodome from the added weight of it.

Hmm... the way I learned physics, gravity affects it the exact same way no matter what

J (card-carrying smartarse)

[The Rat]

...but you can see the wire hasn't extended far yet ...

It's still slack!  

Hmm... the way I learned physics, gravity affects it the exact same way no matter what

He might have meant 'inertia'.  B)  

[Shasper]

I concur, the inertia is still acting in the fwd direction, even though the aircraft is now slowing down/stopping.

Shas B)

[The Rat]

I concur, the inertia is still acting in the fwd direction, ...

And downward.

[SimonR]

I've done one arrested landing as a passenger in a C-2 on CVN-70 and it was pretty intense. I actually though we'd crashed but apparently it was a good landing!

[The Rat]

I've done one arrested landing as a passenger in a C-2 on CVN-70 and it was pretty intense. I actually though we'd crashed but apparently it was a good landing!

"Three great things in life are a good landing, a good bowel movement, and a good orgasm. The night carrier landing allows one to enjoy all three at once." - Anonymous quote

[Geoff]

"Three great things in life are a good landing, a good bowel movement, and a good orgasm. The night carrier landing allows one to enjoy all three at once." - Anonymous quote

Too much information!    

[BlackOps]

I've seen B-52's with ripples big enough to surf on and was told it's just from the constant stress of high altitudes. Looked very similar to the ripples in the photo.

I'm sure that carrier launches and landings are probably pretty rough on aircraft so I wouldn't doubt those ripples are permanent like the ones on the B-52's I'd seen.

[Eddie M.]

I, too caught the wire in a C-2. The guy next to me vomited in his mouth and swallowed it, vomited in his mouth again and swallowed it again. I thought we crashed as well and the deceleration was intense to say the least. Ideally, you want to put your wheels on the deck before catching the wire. In flight arrestments are hell on the airframe and could cause a plane to brake in half. Most of the time it happens at about the same time. Also, it is not uncommon to break main mounts, wheels and in the case of the Legacy Hornets, plaining link failures. Very violent.
  Eddie