Cats and traps at Navy Lakehurst

Wings of Gold, Fall 2002 by Worsdale, Tom, Odoardo, Pattie

You are on the bow, cinched to the num ber one catapult. You are strapped in tightly in the cockpit, left hand on the throttle grip set a full power, 30,000 pounds of thrust coursing through the airframe. The sheer power of the engines creates a rumble as astounding in magnitude as it is reassuring. You may be seated but you're at "attention. " You are engrossed in your immediate future.

The crew has done its part. The ballet of the flight deck continues on the "roof" with all the men and women in colored shirts and the hightech, gull-gray warplanes moving about with purpose. You are about to be rifled down the track and heaved into the wild blue. You wouldn't trade what you're doing for a ton of gold but you are sobered by the knowledge something could go wrong-and you must be ready for that.

You eyeball the yellow-shirted flight deck officer, exchange salutes, shove yourself another centimeter or two into the seat and plant your head against the headrest. Now comes the eternal four or five second interlude before ABs in the deck level glass bubble between the catapults push a sequence of buttons and release a great force of steam powered energy to get you going on your mission.

Then it's whammo! The apparatus which propels you down the track, the major portion ofwhich is below the flight deck, is indisputably the world's most magnificent sling shot. Within two seconds you and your flying machine accelerate from zero to 150 knots. At the edge of the bow you are smoothly and solidly tossed into the sky.

And nothing went wrong.

In its essence the catapult shot from an aircraft carrier on the high seas conveys a sense of simplicity akin to David heaving a stone at Goliath with a rudimentary sling shot. But at the heart of this action is a time-tested precision apparatus maintained and operated by a cadre of sailors, officers and civilian technicians who are acutely aware they potentially hold in their hands the health and well-being of the aviators who fly from the flattops.

Even as these men and women do their jobs, the hardware and software they need to ensure safe launches - and recoveries is developed, tested and supported at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, New Jersey.

"We strive to achieve a reliability factor of 99.9999% for our catapults and arresting gear," said George V DiBiase, Director, Support Equipment and Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment at Lakehurst. "At 99%, a system will lose over a 1,000 aircraft a year," added DiBiase, "while at 99.99%, 14 would be lost. Obviously, anything less than the 99.9999%, which we refer to as `Sigma Six,' is unacceptable."

DiBiase knows what he's talking about. A recognized expert on launch, recovery and landing aids, he is the engineer responsible for the invention and development of the low pressure steam catapult. He also played a leading role in the development of catapults and arresting gear for the new French nuclear aircraft carrier, Porte-Avions Nucleaire Charles DeGaulle, and is recognized internationally as the expert on steam catapults.

He spearheads the ALRE - Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment "Flight Safe" program - designed to enhance an already impressive quality control record that detects even the most minuscule error in manufactured parts such as bushings and bolts. In the business of catapults and arresting gear there simply is no room for error whether the element of concern is as small as a magnetic particle or as large as the piston which drives the catapult system.

It is a singular truth that without the "endorsement" of the professionals at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, aircraft do not land and take off from U.S. Navy carriers and air-capable ships.

When Wings of Gold visited Lakehurst, the Commanding Officer, CAPT Dwight L. Cousins, was on travel, so CAPT Mark L. "Monk" Bathrick, NAES Lakehurst XO, and his staff, provided a tour of the facilities and a briefing on the broad range of activities at the base. Following the XO's biographical summary are remarks by him based on the briefing.

A 1980 graduate of the Naval Academy where he earned a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering, CAPT Bathrick won wings in 1982 and began a long career flying, predominantly, the F-14 Tomcat. After the VF-101 FRS he served in VF-31 and flew strike and tactical reconnaissance missions during the Lebanon crisis. He graduated from Topgun in 1984, was an instructor in VF-101, then graduated from the Empire Test Pilots' School in England in 1987. He became Project Test Pilot at Patuxent River for the F-14A, B and D versions of the Tomcat and subsequently flew in VF-143, participating in Operation Desert Shield. On this tour Bathrick received the 1990 Grumman Top Cat Award and the 1991 VADM William P Lawrence Leadership Award.

Staff duty followed as the Navy's Weapons Programmer in OPNAV followed by assignment to the Joint Staff as Defense Resource Manager in the Program and Budget Analysis Division. He was Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director for Force Structure and Resources before orders, in 1995, to VF-32 as XO and ultimately, CO. During this tour he led the squadron through two complete aircraft transitions from the F-14A to the F-14B and then to the F-I 4B Upgrade. In 1999 he became Chief Test Pilot and CO of the Naval Weapons Test Squadron at Point Mugu, California. He reported to NAES Lakehurst in August 2001.