Naval Air: Night Trap Blues

Archives

May 1,2008: Only 40 percent of the Royal Navy's 48 Harrier pilots are qualified to do night landings ("night traps") in their vertical takeoff aircraft. That's because most of the 24 Harrier aircraft are assigned to supporting British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, or training pilots who are headed for those places. While the pilots miss the carrier operations, they are glad to have an opportunity to operate in a combat zone. Over the last half century, most European combat pilots have gone through an entire 20-30 year career without ever having been in combat.

Eventually, the Harrier pilots will get back to carrier operations, and train to qualify again for night landings. In 2015, the Harriers will start getting replaced by the new F-35B.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close