Inside Mighty Machines (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Aircraft Carrier - full transcript

Zdenek: Each one is over a
thousand feet long.

Weights almost a
hundred thousand tons.

That's a serious elevator.

And costs three and a
half billion dollars.

We caught one.

(laughs)

For 40 years, nimitz
class aircraft carriers

Have delivered us military
might all over the globe.

But now these legendary
ships are being phased out,

To be replaced by new carriers.

Before they're decommissioned,



I'm going aboard
a flagship vessel.

I never want to sleep
under a flight deck again.

So I can uncover the
engineering innovations

That allowed this
ship to launch,

Land and relaunch more
planes, more quickly

Than ever before.

Now that was some
serious engineering.

And see what made the
nimitz class supercarriers.

I'm chad zdenek.

I spent seven years

Building rocket
engines for nasa.

Now I'm taking things apart.

Breaking down giants of
engineering piece by piece.

So I can discover what made
them legends of their time.



♪♪

♪♪

Naval base san diego.

Home to this nimitz
class aircraft carrier.

One of the us navy's
biggest warships

This will be my home
for the next five days.

I'm on board the
uss carl vinson.

And for the next week
I'm going to be working

With engineers,
mechanics and sailors,

And show you some incredible
pieces of engineering

That keep an aircraft carrier
like this operational.

President nixon wrote the
check for the carl vinson

Back in 1974

For three billion dollars.

Construction began in
1975 under president ford.

In 1980, the new ship was
launched under president carter.

In 1982, it finally entered
service under president reagan.

And in 2011, under barack
obama's presidency,

The body of osama bin
laden was brought on board

For burial at sea.

For 40 years, it's been
the ultimate symbol

Of american military might.

An enormous, floating,
plane launching machine,

Bigger and stronger than
anything that came before.

Verrissimo: The carrier fully
loaded maxed out at 97,000 tons,

Its a pretty heavy
piece of gear,

The entire engineering
suite that it takes

To get this ship
through the water

Back and forth over 25 years,

It is just an
engineering marvel.

Zdenek: Now this giant
piece of engineering

Is on it's way out.

One by one, the
nimitz class carriers

Will be decommissioned to
make way for the ford class

Raising the bar all over again.

But you don't replace
a 40 billion dollar

Fleet of aircraft
carriers overnight.

That will take 30 years.

In the meantime,

The nimitz ships have to
stay on the cutting edge,

With constant
upgrades and upkeep

From a highly specialized
mechanical crew.

Each one of them trained in
the extraordinary engineering

That keeps this ship running.

Now I'm joining them
as the ship heads

Into the pacific to
undertake a special mission.

Testing pilots on their
ability to take off and land

On a carrier, hoping to win
their final qualification,

The last step in a naval
aviator's basic training.

I'll work with the
engineering teams

Above and below deck

To reveal the
engineering innovations

That make it all possible.

The incredible catapult system

That can launch a jet
in just two seconds.

The mighty elevators,
designed to get 35 tons

Of aircraft on and
off the deck in seconds.

The arresting system

That uses cables and
hydraulics to stop jets

As they scream in at
150 miles an hour.

And the giant flight deck,

Designed to allow more
take off and landings

Than ever before.

Day one of my time on
the uss carl vinson.

And my first job is one
done by every seamen

Who ever served on any ship.

Removing deck debris.

It's gotta be done as
regular as clockwork.

And on a carrier it's
more important than ever.

So right now were doing
the everyday twice a day.

Basically they get
everyone on deck

To comb through
arms length distance

And they're scouring for any
fod, foreign object debris.

When these jets are
coming in or taking off

There's so much suction
from the engines

That they suck this
off of the deck,

Go into the engines

And can cause some
serious damage,

So we gotta check it
twice a day everyday.

You would think that there
would be fod on this deck,

The wind's about
40 miles an hour,

And this is what I've
found, a piece of wood,

Little piece of
textile material,

But I also found small rock.

The basic job of
an aircraft carrier

Is to take planes
wherever they're needed

And then launch
them into the sky.

On the uss carl vinson, that's
done using a giant catapult.

Or maybe not so giant.

At least not from up here

Where all you can see
is the two foot shuttle

Sticking out the flight
deck like a shark's fin.

Somehow, this tiny
piece of steel

Has to fling a 30
ton jet into the sky

At 150 miles an hour.

♪♪

The simple but
incredible engineering

Behind this launching system

Is the result of a
100 year evolution

Of the aircraft carrier.

That began in 1920
with the uss langley.

It was a coal ship.

Until naval engineers
bolted a wooden deck on top,

Converting it to the us navy's
first ever aircraft carrier.

Its job, to launch
planes into the air

From the middle of the ocean.

Using a runway a little
over 500 feet long.

Biplanes like these were made
of wood, steel and fabric.

They weighed two
and a half tons,

Light enough to launch without
the need of a catapult.

A good headwind was all it took.

But a fully fueled,

Fully loaded f18 is
10 times as heavy.

To get these planes into the
air in just a few hundred feet,

The nimitz carriers
needed huge power.

And a way to deliver it
suddenly and at great speed.

I love the solution
engineers came up with.

They turned to an
age old technology.

Steam.

One of the things I've
always been fascinated by

Is engineering innovation,

And steam is a perfect
example of that.

It helped us in the
industrial revolution.

And now today on
the uss carl vinson

We're using it to catapult f18s

Off a flight deck,

And through all that the
basic properties of steam,

They've stayed the same.

When water is heated into steam,

It expands in volume
over a thousand times.

It is a law of physics that
engineers first mastered

In the 18th century,

When they used it to
create the piston engine.

Over 300 years later,

Nimitz engineers are using the
same principle

On the carl vinson.

I've done a little home
engineering of my own

To show you how it works.

This is a pressure cooker
and I've modified the lid

By drilling a hole in it
and adding a ball valve.

I'm pouring in just a
small glassful of water.

Then securing the lid,

And heating it to turn
the water to steam.

Which expands and is trapped.

Creating high pressure
inside the cooker.

We've got steam, and
lets see what happens.

Boom.

Instant power.

Enough to drive the piston

On a 19th century steam engine,

Or the catapult on a 20th
century aircraft carrier.

The system that runs
it is deep below decks.

The start of our steam
system all starts right here,

Just beneath us is
the power plant,

And all that steam comes
up through this giant duct,

And it's actually fed through
into our steam fill room,

Right in here, where we've
got three control valves

To keep that system pressurized
at just the right amount.

Now believe it or not
there's three other rooms

Just like this.

What you see here this is
only for catapult number two.

The steam for each catapult

Is stored in two giant
cylinders and pistons.

Each about as long
as a football field.

The pistons are connected to
the catapult shuttle on deck.

To launch a plane, the
pressure is suddenly released,

Driving the piston
and catapult forward

At 150 miles per hour.

There are actually four
catapults on board.

Each has its own engine room

And dedicated crew above
and below the flight deck.

Otero: Hey stand by real quick.

Hey truman!

Hey, can you turn on
the throttle tension?

What you got?

We're at 5-zero.

Copy...

(background noise
drowns out dialogue)

Zdenek: When they
get the signal,

They fill these pipes with steam

And bring it to pressure
arming the catapult.

Then they wait for the signal,

That will shift a 35 ton
fighter from stand-still

To 150 miles an hour in
just two and half seconds.

It's a system that
leaves no room for error,

Which is why it gets tested
twice a day, every day.

In just a few minutes I'm
going to be able to witness

A no load for the catapult.

It's basically when
they test the catapult

Before any day they're
doing operations

With no load on it.

This thing's going to fly by us

At about 150 miles an hour
and I get to be two feet away.

Pilots' lives depend on this
engineering working perfectly,

Which is why crew go through
this routine so carefully.

That's why you wanna stay
behind the foul line.

So we're loading up right now,

We're bringing
back the catapult.

This is a safety
line, a foul line,

And everyone's gotta make sure

That they're standing behind it,

And then we're going to
launch this all the way down.

♪♪

(mumbled yelling)

Wow.

(laughs)

Now that was some
serious engineering.

This catapult, bowling
by at 150 miles an hour

And at the end all you see
is a bunch of steam coming up

And then a big splash
which is the water brake

At the end of the deck.

The no load tests are complete,
and everything is ready.

Now this trainee pilot is
about to launch his aircraft

For the first time.

And be tested on whether
he's got what it takes.

It's just the first in five
days of tests and evaluations.

At the end, he's hoping
to have done enough to win

His aircraft carrier
pilot qualification.

Once the catapult fires,

The pilot needs to
accelerate explosively

To get the plane airborne.

Lanham: There is a lot that
could go wrong on the deck,

We talk about it,

We brief to those emergencies

And you have to
trust your training,

As well as all the training
of the flight deck crew

To do their job
and to do it well.

Zdenek: The pilot's launch is
controlled from a pod

Built into the deck
known as the bubble.

Once the catapult fires it's
impossible to abort take off.

The pilot's along for the ride.

We're in the bubble and we're
launching off of catapult four,

And the wings are literally
coming right over our head.

Inside, the catapult
officer, or shooter

Makes the precise calculations

Necessary for a perfect launch.

Each plane's standard
weight is added to its load.

Butterfield: Confirm on four.

No lights, minus four.

Thumbs, thumbs, head's steady,
deck steady, no interval.

So what we're doin' is
we're taking the weight

From the aircraft,

And then we put it into
our charts to get a setting

For the catapult.

Zdenek: Next, the plane is
harnessed to the catapult.

Butterfield: Once everything
is good there we take tension.

So I hit that bridle
tension button,

And that's when the
shuttle moves forward

And locks into that launch bar.

That's when we go
to military power.

That's the pilot's signal
to spool that power

And start getting
his engines ready.

Zdenek: Below
deck, the crew sets

The correct steam pressure.

For an f18, that's 520
pounds per square inch.

Butterfield: Once he's good he
gives that salute.

And that's when I
call salute final,

Push our final ready button.

That gets everything ready
into the final status,

Ready to fire the catapult.

From there we just lift
the lid and hit fire

And they go.

Salute final.

Five twenty point four.

I got lights lights
no lights minus five.

Thumbs, thumbs, head steady,
deck steady, no interval.

Zdenek: For this pilot,
the next two seconds

All depend on the
coordination of his crew

And some precise engineering.

Butterfield: Fire.

Zdenek: Hours of training,

A highly skilled crew,

And incredible engineering

Have all come together
for another safe launch.

It's an experience
pilots never forget,

Going from zero to
150 miles per hour

In just two and half seconds.

Lanham: Before your first
catapult shot, you're anxious,

You've been told what to expect,

But it's way cooler than that.

It's the best ride in the world.

Zdenek: The pilots
continue to launch.

Relying on age old steam

To get their state of the art
planes safely into the sky.

But this engineering is
finally being replaced

As nimitz class carriers
are decommissioned.

Their replacements,
the ford class,

Will be equipped with an
all new catapult system.

Here they test one on an
80,000 pound dead load.

Instead of steam, it
will use electricity

To create magnetic power.

This system will require
far less maintenance,

But deliver 30
percent more power.

With 20 times greater
efficiency than steam.

Meaning the new carriers

Will be able to launch even
bigger planes even faster.

But until the fords
finally launch,

Daily maintenance is an
essential part of life

On the 40 year old carl vinson.

This is a jet blast deflector.

It redirects the high energy
exhaust from jet engines

To prevent damage and injury.

So it has to be strong enough

To withstand the intense heat

From jet engines at full thrust,

And to protect crew
from flying debris

When the plane is launched.

Today we're here to make sure
it's in perfect condition.

Man: Make sure
you're getting it around

The o-ring right here.

Zdenek: Yep.

Man: But then get it down here.

And then you gonna wipe it.

So you put more lube right here.

Zdenek: Okay.

♪♪

All right, as I'm
learning with the navy,

Everything is twice
a day, everyday.

We gotta get these
safety locks in place

And then we're wiping
down each of these pistons

And applying new oil.

The reason is because if the
o-rings inside got too hot,

They would blow and we'd have

A major maintenance
issue on our hands.

♪♪

The carl vinson's four
incredible launch systems

Means the crew can catapult
a jet every 30 seconds

To perform air strikes
over 400 miles away.

That made america's cold
war adversaries nervous.

Reagan: Would the
soviets ever use

Their formidable military power,

Well again can we afford
to believe they won't.

Zdenek: And suspicious.

(speaking in foreign language)

Zdenek: On January 24th 1982,

Less than 48 hours
after the carl vinson

Began its first sea trials
off the coast of virginia,

Russian spy planes flashed
onto the ship's radar.

The airforce scrambled 6 jets.

They located two
bear surveillance

Aircraft with cameras

Sent up from a russian
airbase in cuba

To spy on america's
latest super weapon

And test how fast they
could launch planes.

The american f15's forced the
soviet planes to retreat.

It would become a
familiar pattern.

♪♪

In its first 18 months,

The carl vinson had to
deploy its planes 28 times

To chase off soviet
surveillance aircraft

Intent on uncovering
the new ship's secrets.

35 years later,

The carl vinson's air wing

Remains its most
effective weapon.

The nimitz class was designed

To carry more aircraft
than ever before.

More than 70, split
between the flight deck

And the hangar bay.

The problem is,

How do you get a
60,000-pound aircraft

Up to the flight
deck to take off?

The answer,

The biggest elevator
I've ever seen.

The carl vinson is a plane
launching machine, literally.

But there's another big part
of an aircraft carrier's job.

That would be the
actual carrying.

And as I'm about
to see, lifting.

The next engineering system
we're going to take a look at

Uses a huge amount of
brute force and sheer power

To lift the aircraft on
and off a flight deck.

Its known as the elevators

And I wanna show
you how it works.

On a nimitz-class
aircraft carrier,

There are four giant elevators

Surrounding the aircraft hangar.

So which elevator is this?

Chamberlain: This is
aircraft elevator number three.

Zdenek: It has a huge opening.

It has to be big.

It's designed to perform
the near-impossible.

Lift fully loaded planes
on and off the flight deck

At high speed,

While the vessel pitches in
strong winds and high waves.

The elevator is really just

A massive 4000
square foot platform,

Able to fit seamlessly
into the hangars below

And the flight deck above.

How heavy is the whole platform?

Chamberlain: The platform itself
is 190,000 pounds.

Zdenek: That's a
serious elevator.

And how much can it lift?

Chamberlain: It can
lift 130,000 pounds.

Zdenek: So, to give me
an idea of what is

130,000 pounds worth of gear.

Give me an example of that.

Chamberlain: It's easily over
two fully loaded f18s.

♪♪

Zdenek: Of course, this
parking lot is often floating

In a war zone.

So it needs to do
its lifting fast,

And the nimitz class could
do it faster than ever before

At 135 feet per minute.

It's raised and
lowered by cable,

But they get their
power from below decks.

And another special
piece of engineering.

Chamberlain: So welcome.

This is the lower level

Of the aircraft
elevator machinery room.

Down here is where we
create all our pressure.

Zdenek: Those 20 cables that
are lifting the elevator,

They all end up right
here at this anchor point.

They wrap around this
giant pulley system,

Or shiv system,

And this is controlled
by the three pistons

On the back side.

The cables get their
enormous power and speed

From a piece of engineering
known as an accumulator.

It's a device that
can store energy,

And then release it
on demand suddenly.

Basically the
accumulator is a cylinder

Filled with compressed air.

Then hydraulic fluid is
pumped in at high pressure.

Compressing the
air even further.

As soon as the
elevator is engaged,

A valve releases the pressure.

The compressed air
expands instantly,

Forcing the hydraulic
fluid out of the cylinder

To push a giant piston forward.

That powers pulleys
that lift the elevator

And its 130,000 pound
load three decks high

In just 15 seconds.

It's amazing to think
that all that pressure

Inside the accumulator,

When its released it can lift
an entire load on the elevator

And the elevator itself for a
total of over 300,000 pounds.

Like everything
else on this ship,

The elevator takes
a lot of loving,

And greasing, below
decks and up top.

There's so much to elements
once you're out at sea,

Whether it's the salt water,
the fumes from the planes,

The debris, you have
the wind coming in here

And blowing things around.

There's so much that can
get into these locks,

That it needs to be cleaned on
a very regular basis.

So this is like arts and crafts.

Navy style.

The wear and tear is relentless.

Time to get my
oil can out again.

Yeah, it's interesting, the
one thing that hasn't changed

Over centuries of sailing
is grease and oil.

Constant maintenance and repair

Is critical to the effectiveness
of this super weapon.

The carl vinson was
commissioned and launched

During the cold war,

When america needed a ship

That could respond
to any eventuality,

And survive at sea for
as long as necessary.

But that takes enormous energy.

America's biggest ever warship

Needed the world's most
potent source of power.

Nuclear fuel.

Hidden in the bowels
of the uss carl vinson

Are some amazing
technological innovations.

The ship's
nuclear-powered reactors.

Of the 5000 on board,

Only a highly specialized
mechanical crew

Are allowed anywhere near it.

That's how secret they are,

And I'm definitely
not one of them.

What I have learned is
that there are two of them.

They heat water to generate
the high pressure steam

That powers the launch system.

They also turn giant turbines.

Those spin generators to
deliver electrical power

To every system on the ship.

The turbines also rotate
four giant screw propellers,

To create more than
280,000 horsepower

And drive the ship
forward at 30 knots.

These reactors can run
the ship for 25 years.

But 25 years of power
doesn't mean much

Unless the rest of the ship
is also self sufficient.

Break downs, failures, repairs.

All are dealt with
on board by the crew.

Here, in the machine room,

They have the technology
to repair and rebuild

Almost any part of the ship.

♪♪

Ward: So really what were doing
here on the carl vinson,

Is the name of the game
is adapt and overcome,

We're always adapting
to whatever breaks.

It's never the same things.

You think about how
old the ship is.

A lot of those things
that break those companies

Don't exist anymore,

So there's not a lot of ways
to get the parts that we need,

And that's where all
these guys come in.

All the advanced things
that I'm showing you today

That were making,

The machines are older
than you and I combined.

Zdenek: The corrosive
effects of sea-water

Take a toll on every ship.

So it's no surprise
repairs on the carl vinson

Often start with melting metal.

♪♪

This steel is actually
really common on a carrier.

Its used for a lot of
the decks and bulk heads.

Its called 10-pound plate

Because it weighs 10
pounds per square foot.

This piece is actually
going to be used

To repair a rusted out
section on the second deck.

It's not always as simple
as patching a hole.

This replacement part
needs to be machined

To exactly the right size.

Allen: What you're going do now
is you're gonna drive this up

To where it's close to
the edge of the material,

Not too much, just
right, you gotta bump it,

'til you just touch off
material, knock off.

Zdenek: Okay.

Allen: See that small circle go,

That's how you
know you're there.

Boom, alright now you can
back this up all the way

And you're out of the way,

And you're good.

You just did a facing
cut, turn it off.

There you go.

Zdenek: That's not bad.

Allen: Pretty nice, right.

Any piece that
normally comes through,

Somebody said can you
just take little bit off,

Just like let's say a hair?

To my memory I think a
hair is 0.003 of an inch.

That's pretty small.

And in our world, 003,

That could make a major
difference in the piece.

Zdenek: The engineering team

Doesn't just make
new parts here.

They can repair
any part on board,

Including aircraft,

Which can account for up to
30,000 repair jobs a year.

Together with the ship's 25
year supply of nuclear energy,

This versatile maintenance
crew make the uss carl vinson

The most self sufficient
warship afloat,

Able to operate in the most
remote corners of the world.

Like the arctic circle.

In 1986, the carl vinson was
deployed in the bering sea.

Just 60 miles from
the soviet union.

Conditions here are some of
the harshest in the world.

Ice, fog, rolling seas,

Make maintaining open supply
lines almost impossible.

And landing a plane treacherous.

No aircraft carrier
had deployed here

Since world war ii.

Until the carl vinson.

Tracking the movements
of soviet submarines

Right on the russians' doorstep.

The carl vinson proved
the nimitz carriers

Were the most independent
warships in the world.

And that, now, nowhere
was out of reach

Of american airpower.

♪♪

Take offs and landings
have been continuing

Throughout the night.

(groans)

5:30.

I never want to sleep
under a flight deck again.

I've seen and heard the
extraordinary engineering

Involved in launching a plane.

But that's only half the
job of an aircraft carrier.

It's one thing to launch
an aircraft off of a carrier,

But its just as important

To make sure it lands back
safely in just three seconds.

To do that we use some
wire rope, hydraulics,

And some pretty
neat engineering.

In the early days,
engineers used a cable

Connected to sand
bags on pulleys

To slow the plane and stop it.

Most of the time.

The set up is basically
the same today.

Four two inch wires run
across the landing deck.

They're called arresting cables,

And are designed to snag
the plane's tail hook

And bring it to a hard
stop in just two seconds.

But to stop a modern 30 ton jet

You need a lot
more than sandbags.

Engineers that designed the
nimitz came up with a solution.

Like the catapult's shuttle,

The cables are just
the visible part

Of a much larger system.

It all happens just
under the flight deck,

In the arresting gear room.

So one of things I've
noticed is the flight deck,

They get all the
glory up there, right?

The planes coming in,

The tail hook could
grab the arresting wire,

And smoke everywhere.

For me as an engineer

This is the heart of
how it really happens.

Lara: Yes, it is.

Zdenek: This is amazing
down here.

Lara: The engine operator is
always monitoring to ensure

That the proper
temperatures pressures

And the actual machinery
is working properly.

Zdenek: Wow.

Lara: There's a lot of work
that's involved

Down below decks,

And its very important that
we do that job the right way,

'cause you never know
what's gonna happen,

And the pilots have
to come home.

Zdenek: Yeah, yeah.

At its heart of the
arresting system

Is another giant accumulator.

Unlike on the elevator,
it's not designed for speed.

Instead, this
accumulator is engineered

To slow down a plane
by creating resistance.

The huge cylinder is
filled with 300 gallons

Of hydraulic fluid and
connected to a giant piston.

Let me show you.

You can see under
here is the piston.

Most pistons might be
half an inch, one inch,

Maybe a two inch piston
on heavy machinery.

This piston is 18
inches in diameter.

When the plane's tail hook
grabs the cable on the deck,

It drives the piston forward,

Forcing all the hydraulic
fluid through a small hole

Inside the cylinder.

That hole is only
half an inch wide.

The back up of fluid
creates enormous resistance.

Enough to absorb 47 million
foot pounds of torque,

And stop a plane.

It works a little bit like this.

Imagine this syringe
system is your engine

And your accumulator.

As a tail hook grabs a
cable on the flight deck,

Its going to go through
a series of pulleys

And begin to push
that hydraulic fluid

Through the piston in
to the accumulator.

When it does that its going
through a control valve,

Or in this case a nozzle.

This creates all the
resistance you need

To stop a plane from 150
miles an hour to zero

In just few seconds.

And amazingly enough
this engineering feat

Is able to recycle itself

And do the exact same
process in 90 seconds

Catching plane after
plane after plane.

It sounds simple in principle.

In practice, it's a
precise, high speed,

High risk operation.

For the trainee pilots,

There are three critical
stages as they prepare to land.

On their first approach,

The pilot will bring the
f18 towards the flight deck

But will then do a
pass over the carrier.

This is to help
them get a visual

Of what it's like to
approach a carrier at sea.

Scroggs: The first time I saw
the carrier from the air,

Everyone says it looks
small in a big ocean,

And they are right.

I saw it and was like,
oh, I have to land

On that tiny little rectangle.

Zdenek: On the second approach,
the pilot hits the deck

At 150 miles per hour,

But doesn't attempt to
engage the tail hook.

Instead, the aircraft
goes to full throttle

On touching the deck
and takes off again.

This maneuver is
called a touch and go.

It trains pilots
to abort a landing

And quickly re-launch

If they miss all four
arresting cables.

After the touch-and go, it's
time for the trainee pilot

To earn their stripes
by tackling a landing.

Lanham: Landing on an aircraft
on an aircraft carrier

Is one of the most difficult
things to do in aviation.

The first time you
see it from the air

It just looks like a tiny
little boat down there.

And then you descend and
you get down close to it,

And it's massive,

And it's intimidating

To know you're about to
go land on this thing.

Zdenek: As the crew
prepares on deck,

I'll be watching from below

As the arresting system
hopefully catches

The speeding f18s.

He misses.

The pilot goes to full
throttle to re-launch,

And goes around for
another attempt.

Lara: So the tail hook hit
the wire but it missed it.

I'd didn't pull it out.

It happens, so right now
you'll hear our topside guy,

You can hear the footsteps,

They go out and check that wire,

Make sure it's not broken,

And then run back out.

♪♪

Zdenek: Again, the
pilot misses the cables.

We're gettin'
unlucky a lot tonight.

Lanham: When you come in
for a landing

And we miss all the cables,
we call that a bolter.

At first it's frustrating,

But you have to
quickly put that away,

Compartmentalize, realize
you're flying an aircraft,

Come back and land again.

♪♪

Zdenek: The crosshairs
on this monitor

Show the ideal approach
position for an aircraft.

And this pilot is spot on.

We caught one.

Soon, the trainees are
nailing it every time.

Wow.

That's a lot louder when
it's in your engine room.

Lara: It is very loud.

Lanham: So if the catapult shot

Is the coolest ride
in the world,

The stopping on the boat
is kind of the opposite.

People compare it
to a car crash.

Taking a heavy aircraft and
going about 150 miles an hour,

And bringing it to a dead stop

In the span of a
football field or so.

♪♪

Zdenek: I think I need to get
a richter scale in here.

This room shakes so much.

I'm from la so I feel
earthquakes a lot.

I'm gonna guess it's
about a 4.0, 4.5.

It's incredible to see the
simple hydraulic principle

I demonstrated operating
at such scale and speed.

By transferring
the plane's energy

From the arresting cable
into the hydraulic fluid,

The plane is brought
to a complete stop.

How do you handle it
when it's a bigger plane

Versus a smaller plane?

Lara: It means we have
to adjust that valve

To a different opening.

So the heavier the aircraft,

The smaller the opening.

The lighter the aircraft
the bigger the opening.

Zdenek: Got it.

Got it.

It's engineering
genius in action.

Systems like these have to
work the first time, every time.

Verrisimo: So the catapults
and arresting gear

Are some very intricate but
powerful pieces of gear.

They have to operate with the
timing of a fine swiss watch,

They have to be exactly
the same every time,

So that we can launch
those 70,000 pound aircraft

Consistently and
safely every time.

That extraordinary engineering

Was put to the toughest
test yet in 1996.

When the united
states once again

Took on iraqi dictator,
saddam hussain.

America wanted to use
airpower to hammer iraq

From the persian gulf.

The perfect task for
the uss carl vinson.

It deployed as part of
operation desert strike.

From offshore, its jets
penetrated iraqi air space.

Over one 90-day deployment,

The carl vinson launched and
landed over 8,000 flights,

Pounding iraqi military targets
with laser guided bombs.

Only a nimitz class aircraft
carrier could have done it.

And it would have
been impossible

Without the
extraordinary engineering

Behind the carl vinson's
launch and landing systems.

Operations like that are what
this crew is training for.

The pilots have one more day
of evaluations to complete.

And I have one final engineering
innovation to uncover.

♪♪

A seemingly simple innovation
that's right under my feet.

It's my final day on board
the uss carl vinson.

The aircraft carrier flight deck

Has a reputation as the most
dangerous work place on earth.

With planes, aviation
fuel, ammunition,

And dozens of crew,

There's a lot that can go wrong.

And terrible consequences
when it does.

1967.

On board the uss forrestal,

The first of the forrestal class

And a predecessor to the nimitz,

One of the worst tragedies in
carrier history takes place.

Archive: Somehow a zuni
rocket has been triggered

Roaring across the flight deck
and hitting an a4 skyhawk.

Zdenek: The skyhawk's
missiles detonated.

With planes packed
closely together,

The fire quickly
spread, trapping pilots,

And detonating more
ammunition and fuel.

Crew battled the blaze,

And pushed aircraft overboard,

Rather than risk
more explosions.

Meanwhile, burning fuel
flooded onto the lower decks.

The disaster claimed
the lives of 134 men.

The most common accidents happen
during take off and landing

On decks crowded with planes.

Where crew have been
killed or injured.

Lanham: The flight deck is
a extremely busy place,

With up to 40 aircraft operating

And about 1,000
people running around,

So everybody has to look
at what they're doin',

Keep their head on
a swivel as we say,

And trust that everybody's
doing their job.

Fletcher: It can be deadly.

There's a lot of
things can happen

In a very short period of time,

If you're standing
in the wrong place,

It can be a bad day.

If you're on the flight deck,
keep your head on swivel,

You're constantly
looking around,

Just making sure
you're in a safe place.

Zdenek: The nimitz designers
wanted to make its flight deck

Safer than its predecessors.

But they also
wanted more planes.

And to launch and
land them faster.

What they needed to achieve
both was more space.

For years, carriers operated
with a single flight deck.

This is an overhead
plan of the essex class.

The us navy's main carrier
used during world war ii.

This meant that planes
could take off and land,

But not at the same time.

This made operations slow,
difficult and dangerous.

This problem was first
addressed by naval engineers

In the 1950's,

When they made a fundamental
change to carrier design.

The solution was an
angled flight deck.

By angling the landing
area to one side,

Incoming aircraft could
have a clear approach.

That reduced the
risk of plane crashes

During landing operations,

But it was the nimitz that
took the angled flight deck

To whole new level.

At the front of the
nimitz class carl vinson

Is the launch track,
with two catapults.

Next to it, and at an
angle, is the landing strip.

It's offset by 14 degrees.

Three times more than
previous carriers.

That allows launches
and landings

To happen simultaneously.

Up to one every 30 seconds,

Making the flight deck busier
than an international airport.

Made of steel and coated
with an anti-skid material,

It's truly immense.

Over 1,000 feet long,
and 250 feet wide.

That's more than 4
and a half acres.

Offering huge space
for planes to land,

Take off and maneuver more
safely than ever before.

But doing that still requires
complicated choreography.

That's managed by the
flight deck handler.

Stroud: This will let me
know exactly how

I set the flight deck up.

We will also coordinate
with navigation,

So navigation will talk
with reactor department

And engineering, if they
have any high speed runs,

Any turns, rudder swing checks,

So that I'll know how to
strategically place my aircraft.

Zdenek: You give 'em a window,

You tell them when
they can come in,

You gotta coordinate with
that flight plan that you got.

Stroud: Every
day its different.

Nothing's ever the same, chad.

This is super easy.

Zdenek: How long you
been doing it?

Stroud: 26 years.

Zdenek: 26 years?

Stroud: Yeah.

Zdenek: Wow.

Experience like that

Has been earned over
decades of service

In some of the most
significant conflicts

In american history.

In October 2001

The carl vinson began the
hunt for osama bin laden.

The ship's aircraft were
part of the first air strikes

Against al qaeda in afghanistan.

There were over 8,000
take offs and landings.

Nearly 11,000 flight hours.

More than two million pounds
of ordnance dropped on targets.

All delivered from the deck
of the carl vinson by air

To the enemy's doorstep.

Precisely what an aircraft
carrier was designed to do.

10 years later,
when osama bin laden

Was finally located in
pakistan by navy seals.

Obama: They killed
osama bin laden

And took custody of his body.

Zdenek: His body was delivered
to the carl vinson

For burial at sea.

That was done from
this hangar bay.

Allowing the uss carl vinson
to finish the job it started.

It's the last day of
evaluations for these pilots.

As they make their final
take offs and landings,

It gives me one more
chance to get below decks

And see the arresting
cable in action again.

It's almost like
waiting to catch fish.

You don't know if it's
going to hit your line

Or another one.

Not surprisingly,
arresting cables

Take a real beating from
the planes' tail hooks.

Now, cable three has worn out.

Crews train to kick into action

And replace it with a
completely new cable.

The challenge to do it
before this plane lands.

♪♪

With just seconds to spare,

The cable is replaced and
the f18 can make its landing.

(cheering)

Lanham: When you complete
your qualifications,

The lso or landing
signal officer,

The ones grading us,

They'll come up over the radio

And say congrats
man, you're a quall.

So the training on
the aircraft carrier

Is really the culmination

Of about two to two-and-
a-half years of training.

Zdenek: The engineering on this
ship may be 40 years old,

But the constant
maintenance it receives

Means it still runs
like clockwork,

Time after time.

Believe it or not that
was catch number 105,527,

And just about
everything you need

To stop an f18 in
a couple hundred feet

Is right here in this room.

American made,
and built to last.

The uss carl vinson

Has played a critical role

In exercising american
air power from the sea.

It is just one of ten nimitz
class aircraft carriers,

The last of which
will serve until 2060.

But already, the us
navy has designed

And built the first of
a replacement fleet.

The ford class.

The first entered
service in 2017.

Nine more of these new
vessels are planned

To create america's
next 40 billion dollar

Super carrier fleet.

The ford class is
just the next step.

Building on the
successful design

Of its remarkable predecessors,
like the uss carl vinson.

This iconic, battle
proven super carrier

Has shaped four decades
of global history.

It's a legacy made possible
by extraordinary engineering.

♪♪