Why is the runway length important are we planning to launch the JF17 thunder off a aircraft carrier how long is the runway on the carriers? just out of curiosity
normal runway on the aircraft carrier is 300 ft rather than on the airports which is more than 1000ft for the fighter jets..u can see as below:
Taking Off and Landing on an Aircraft Carrier
Written by Jeff Moring
The aircraft carrier is the centerpiece of the United States Navy because of its ability to transport aircraft all over the world. The main component of these ships is their ability to launch and land jets in such a small space. But with so much chaos in such a small area, engineers have had to design simple yet effective devices to help manage the process. The catapult system is used for taking off, while the Fresnel lens and arresting wires are used to help the pilot land. These systems have been in place for several decades, and even though technology will improve drastically within the next 20 years, the future systems will continue to be based on these initial designs.
The Floating Airport
USS Nimitz (CVN 68)
USS Nimitz (CVN 68)
Photo by U.S. Navy
Aircraft carriers have been the centerpiece of the United States Navy since World War II despite the fact that their most basic and important function, launching and landing fighter jets on a ship in the middle of the ocean, proves to be a very difficult task. Due to the extremely limited runway space on the decks of these mobile machines, engineers have been forced to develop powerful systems to accelerate and decelerate aircraft in a very short period of time.
Ship Basics
The Navy currently uses Nimitz class aircraft carriers, which are typically 1,094 feet in length and have deck space of approximately 4.5 acres, the size of four football fields. Below deck the ships hold up to 80 aircraft, 6,250 people, 2 nuclear reactors, and all the supplies needed for tours that can last several months (Burgess, Naval Aviation Guide 162).
In order for the aircraft carrier to act as a true traveling airport, the pilots and crew rely on three key elements to launch and land aircraft safely. First, four catapults are specially developed to launch planes at high speeds. Second, a lighting system known as the Fresnel lens, or the "meatball" system, lets a pilot know if the plane has the correct altitude and position when approaching to land. Third, four arresting cables are in place to bring the plane to rest in less than 320 feet ("The Aircraft Carrier").
Launching From A Catapult
Aircraft typically require long runways in order to gather enough speed so they can successfully take off. Since the runway length on an aircraft carrier is only about 300 feet ("The Aircraft Carrier"), compared to the 2,300 feet needed for normal aircraft to take off from a runway ("T-38 Talon"), engineers have created steam-powered catapults on the decks of carriers that are capable of launching aircrafts from 0 to 150 knots (170 miles per hour) in just 2 seconds (Kaufman 55). The takeoff system can be broken down into two components - the above ground and below ground operations.
Blast Deflector
Blast Deflector
Photo by U.S. Navy
Above Ground
Above deck, the crew hooks the aircraft's front wheel, or nose gear, to the catapult using a tow bar. The tow bar hangs off the front of the nose gear so the catapult can pull the aircraft (Burgess, Naval Aviation Guide 174). In order to prevent harmful jet discharge from going into unwanted places, a jet-blast deflector is placed directly behind the aircraft, pushing the discharge up into the air. The pilot then pushes the engine to full throttle, creating a forward thrust that would traditionally move a jet forward (Kaufman 54-56). A holdback bar is in place to prevent any motion at this time, despite the thrust of the jet.
Once the force from the catapult is added to the thrust of the jet, the excess force will cause the hold-back bar to release and the jet will move (Burgess, Naval Aviation Guide 174). This is because the hold-back bar can only hold the force from the jet at full thrust, but not the additional force of the catapult.
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