February 12, 2005; San Diego Midway

A break in the clouds and I was off to do something, anything. I ended up at the Midway, an aircraft carrier commissioned just after WW II. The sheer size of the equipment and ship the ship were astonishing, even though the Midway is dwarfed by modern carriers. For having such a large ship, the accommodations were tiny: low ceilings, small doors, tight steep stairs, and beds that were fit for sardines, not men. Walking through the ship, it was easy to see why head trauma was one of the most common injuries in board. Somehow, I managed to get through the ship without needing a band-aid on my noggin. I felt claustrophobic after a couple hours; Navy personnel made it their home for months at a time.

The interesting feature that I found was the Meatball. Generated by the vertical bank of yellow lenses, the Meatball is slang for the yellow light seen by pilots on their approach. If the pilot is on the right glideslope, the meatball will show between the row of green lights; too high or low and the meatball shows between another row of lights, signaling what adjustments need to be made.

The deck of the Midway was a particular challenge to jet pilots, as it was designed for slower prop aircraft. During navy testing, it was found that a routine carrier landing was more stressful to a pilot than engaged combat flying. A pilot of the day made an analogy: Landing a jet at night is like having two seconds to park a car traveling 120 mph in a one car garage, lit up with one light bulb. One of these landings occurs about every 40 seconds on busy nights.