USS Ronald Reagan trip

On the morning of December 10, 2005, I was nervously strapped into the USS Ronald Reagan’s COD – Carrier Onboard Delivery plane, a Grumman C-2 Greyhound. We had been circling around the ship awaiting our turn for a trap – a.k.a. a carrier landing. As a passenger In the C-2, you sit backwards and there are only two small porthole windows, but you are about to make a trap aboard a carrier, so it is fine!

You feel the airplane slowing and starting to wallow about. Then, with a big sudden wham, we were stopped on the flight deck!

The next 24 hours were a mad dash from one end of the carrier to the other – one deck after another – top to bottom! They showed us everything and we really want to know everything. We got to eat Navy food. (It’s actually pretty good!) They give us an officer’s “state room” for a few hours sleep, except for all of the constant noise and an occasional alert. They had us stand on the flight deck during air ops (cat shots and traps). The entire experience is a blast!

Then it was time to climb aboard the COD and get braced for the cat (catapult) shot and head back to the regular world.