Opening Scene
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Final Countdown
slad47 — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 07:46 AM)
The Tomcat is talking to "Pearl Tower". No such animal. They use the runway which is shared by Honolulu International and Hickam AFB. The control tower is run by the FAA not the Air Force or Navy and is called "Honolulu Tower".
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CGSailor — 9 years ago(November 07, 2016 11:39 PM)
IIRC, They were not taking off from Honolulu/Hickam.
They were taking off from Barber's Point NAS So no it would not be Honolulu Tower.
I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water! -
slad47 — 9 years ago(November 12, 2016 11:03 PM)
Barber's runways are 04/22 and 11/29 so it has to be Honolulu. Note the tower mentions "SH-3 coming from the right" which is helicopter 733 coming in to pick up Lasky. Also obviously wrong is when the SH-3 takes off we next see a shot of it over the water with Waikiki and Diamond Head in the background. Then next we see Lasky looking out at the Arizona Memorial. If the helicopter were heading offshore to the Nimitz, it would not fly over the Arizona which is in the Inner Harbor near Ford Island. Also the Tomcat taking off is 200, the same Tomcat which Farentino is flying. So the helicopter beats the Tomcat to the Nimitz even giving it a head start?
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CGSailor — 9 years ago(November 13, 2016 12:13 AM)
I'll have to watch it again to be sure of certain details but several things in your own response are obviously wrong.
Then next we see Lasky looking out at the Arizona Memorial. If the helicopter were heading offshore to the Nimitz, it would not fly over the Arizona which is in the Inner Harbor near Ford Island
While it is true that a helo heading out to sea from Barber's Point would not pass over the memorial the same is true for a helo departing Hickam as well. So that bit of information cannot be used to disprove it being Barber's Point. Obviously the Helo took Laskey on a sightseeing tour of the harbor before heading out to sea. Therfore it can still be Barber's Point.
Also the Tomcat taking off is 200, the same Tomcat which Farentino is flying. So the helicopter beats the Tomcat to the Nimitz even giving it a head start?
You're ignoring the obvious answer starring you in the face. You are presuming (wrongly) that the Tomcat headed strat to the ship.
Where it went and what it did is not a part of the film so it's only conjecture, but obviously it did something other than head straight for the carrier to land as a helo can not have beaten it there. Mostly likely it took part in some exercise. Also you may not have been seing the Tomcat's first look at the deck, The "flyout" to the carrier is also used as carrier qualification training and he may have had several traps and launches prior to the helo arrival.
Your assumption is incorrect.
I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water! -
slad47 — 9 years ago(November 13, 2016 02:31 AM)
Good points! One additional mistake that just came to mind. Since the carrier had just sailed what was Commander Owen doing back at Pearl? If he was needed back at Pacific Fleet HQ it would be a lot easier and cheaper to fly him by helicopter than by a Tomcat. High performance tactical fighter aircraft do not mix well in a busy commercial airport environment.
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CGSailor — 9 years ago(November 13, 2016 06:36 AM)
No. That is not an additional mistake, just your own lack of knowledge of carrier operations.
Cdr Owens is not a member of the ship's crew. None of the airwing personnel are.
The Planes do not stay aboard the carrier when the carrier is inport. They fly off to a nearby Naval Air Station. They fly back aboard when the carrir goes back to sea.
Cdr Owens is flying his jet out to the Carrier after the Carrier has left port. THAT is why he is not flown out to the carrier in a helo. That is not a mistake, That is Naval Operations.
And your last line is just plain wrong as well, or did you forget that Hickam is a JOINT Civilian/Military airfield.
Back to the Airwing/Ship's crew thing
The Ship's Captain is in charge of the ship and all it's crew. He is their CO or Commanding Officer.
The CAG is the Commanding Officer of the Airwing, and is in charge of all the planes, Pilots, and all its asociated enlisred personnel (maintenance, etc..)
The Carrier's Captain is NOT in charge nor is he the CO of the airwing personnel.
When the ship is not deployed to sea. the Airwing is based out of a Naval Air Station. The crew of the Airwing do not live aboard the ship like the Carrier's crew does. They live in barracks at the Naval Air Staion.
When a Carrier is to deploy, The Airwing is assigned to the carrier, the associated airwing personnel go abaord tje ship and sail with her from port along with a number of pilots (usually the junior pilots) The rest of the pilots, like CAG, fly the planes out to the carrier after she is out to sea.
I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water! -
slad47 — 9 years ago(November 13, 2016 10:41 AM)
Pacific carriers are homeported in either San Diego or the Puget Sound area. Their flying squadrons are based at Naval Air Stations up and down the West Coast. When the carrier deploys the Air Wing joins the carrier as you stated. During their deployment they make 3-5 day port visits every few months to resupply and give liberty to the crew.Honolulu/Pearl for obvious reasons is a popular port. The aircraft stay on the carrier usually allowing the crew to catch up maintenance. I know there wouldn't be enough room on the tarmac at Hickam for 60-70 additional aircraft. As for the joint use part I was trying to point that fighter aircraft have much different takeoff and landing characteristics than commercial aircraft which creates more difficulties for air traffic controllers to maintain safe intervals at very busy airfields.Also another error if the Corsair's tail hook was bad,it would have been sent to Barber to land.
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slad47 — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 07:57 AM)
Thank you for your service and info on carrier ops. My original post was about Air Traffic Control, which I have some knowledge. The Tomcat is taking off from Runway 09/27 which definitely makes it Honolulu Intl. Since the film is about the navy, I assume they used Pearl as in Pearl Harbor because when you hear Pearl Harbor you think navy. When you hear Honolulu you think hula girls and Don Ho.
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brianjsmith-86408 — 9 years ago(November 18, 2016 02:54 PM)
If I was CAG, taking to the skies in a shiny new Tomcat, the helicopter would have beat me to the ship too because I would have spent ninety minutes or so turning all that JP-5 into noise and fumes and having a helluva lot of fun doing it. Gotta burn down to trap weight, right?