Night Ops

We went back out to watch the night operations. Since we didn't want to blind any of the pilots, flash photography wasn't allowed. So I cranked up the ISO and opened the shutter,

but most pictures were still blurry.

A tripod wouldn't have helped either since the boat moves and vibrates, especially when one of these airplanes slams onto the deck.

When they are landing on the carrier deck, the pilots give it full power just in case they don't catch the wire. That way they will have enough speed to take off again.

Like this guy. He missed the wire, and will have to go around and try again. All those sparks are from the tail hook sliding across the deck. Pretty spectacular to watch!