European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                On Board the Forrestal it. Ted Fink holds up a a Pickle switch to turn on signals warning pilots away from a bad approach if necessary while he and his backup it. John Rockwell watch an f-14 tomcat land. Petty 0\ Richard Trapf a amps photos by Gary Miller continued from Page 13 and complexity and capability of a Carrier Battle group and we entrust the maintenance and operation of it to the youth of the nation Quot says rear adm. L Richard c. Allen commander of Forrestal s Battle group. Quot i think that says a lot about our people a their style their tenacity their ability to learn and  the pilots get the glory but the Carrier s youngsters most of them fresh out of High school do the Bull work. The average age of the Forrestall screw is 191/2. Hundreds of them work on the flight deck where flight operations often go on around the clock and a typical duty Day is 18 hours with a Little sleep in Between. During flight operations the Jet blasted five acre Patch is reckoned to be one of the most perilous places on Earth. No Ballet is More finely coordinated than flight Ops and it does t take much to throw it out of synch. As the Forrestal operated South of Sardinia a heaving sea and a Slick flight deck made planes slide while Landing. Quot today is one of those Days an air Boss has nightmares about Quot says cmdr. Frank Kraemer 42, from Virginia Beach a. Kraemer is the mini Boss the assistant to the air Boss cmdr. Lawrence e. Osborn. During flight Ops Osborn directs All personnel and activities from a tinted windowed air control Tower High above the deck. Quot i m trying to quit smoking Quot Kraemer says As he lights yet another cigarette Quot but this is a hell of a Job to do while  both Kraemer and Osborn 42, from Orange Park Fla fear not having a Quot ready deck Quot one that can take aircraft needing to land. Osborn recalls a night off Oman when an officer who had been struck by a severed arresting wire was lying injured on the flight deck. Five aircraft and the ship s Rescue helicopter a All running Short of fuel a desperately needed to land and the Carrier had Only five Miles of sea room left before running into the coast Quot somehow it All worked out but it gets stressful up Here Quot Osborn says. Moments later a returning a-7 bomber drifts off course and As it is arrested on the Slippery deck the Jet tilts and scrapes its right wingtip. Damage is slight but the Accident shows just How close calamity is. During landings pilots get help from the Quot Meatball the optical Landing system that lets them know whether they Are on the Glide path and from the Landing signal officer the so stands at the flight decks Edge guiding the landings with radio warnings and commands. If a Pilot comes in too Low he crashes into the Carrier s Stern. Too High and the plane s Tail Hook misses All four of the arresting wires running across the deck. Too far to the left or the right of the deck s Enterline and the plane creams into parked aircraft filled with fuel. In a perfect Landing the Tail Hook catches the third wire in from the Stern. Still All Carrier landings Are controlled crashes the noise is deafening. Planes slam Down onto the steel deck engines scream on full Power so that aircraft can claw their Way skyward if they miss the arresting wire an arresting wire is 1,100 feet Long. It weighs seven pounds per foot and is built to withstand 2,000 traps before replacement. Quot broken cables Are extremely rare nowadays because of increased inspections and improvements to the Page 14 a a a the stars and stripes sunday mar