Long said if anything moves or “breaks spot,” the Sailor manning the PLAT has to call the movement in to flight deck control. Flight deck control then plots all movement on the “Ouija board.” The Ouija board is a 1/16-scale diagram of the flight deck with proportionate models of aircraft.

“We can keep track of every maintenance requirement. If they’re up, if they’re down, if they’re ready to shoot, if they need fuel, everything they need we can tell by looking at the template on the Ouija board,” said Ardinger.

“The aviation crewmembers on the flight deck are an absolutely essential part of the team,” said Lt. Griffin Hetrick, a pilot and officer in the avionics and armament division of the Red Rippers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11.

“We can’t do our jobs without them. We have to have trust in everybody that is handling the aircraft, giving us taxi directions, as well as our own maintainers up on the flight deck giving us safety checks and making sure the aircraft is good to go,” said Hetrick. ”We also rely on the landing signal officers to help guide us during the landing procedures. It is absolutely an “all hands” effort by everybody on the flight deck.”

Two primary goals for the flight deck qualification operations during this underway period are for the Air Department of Enterprise to obtain flight deck certification and for pilots to meet their carrier qualifications.

“It’s the first step of the at sea period for us, as the airwing,” said Hetrick.

Ardinger said the Big E just received her flight deck certification this week.

“We had to get our check in the box so that we can go on launching and recovering aircraft,” said Ardinger.

From fueling to flying, flight operations are a key component of the Enterprise’s sea power projection.

“Being on the flight deck is very hard,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Fuels) Airman Michael A. Chapman an Enterprise Sailor in the Air department. “It’s down to a science, because it can be very dangerous, but it’s a fun job. I’d recommend it to anybody. It’s a great experience.”

“It’s like ballet,” said Nelson. “There is so much going on, but it all comes together.”

Flight Ops: Proceed with caution

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Gregory White

The Shuttle Newsletter Edition December 12, 2011 Issue

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

“We are Legend”

Photo by MCSN Harry Gordon

As the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) conducts Fleet Replacement Squadron carrier qualifications in the Atlantic Ocean Dec. 10, there isn’t a place on the ship where loud thundering noise isn’t heard. The bulkheads shake and the decks rumble in every space. These conditions, caused by flight operations, are a way of life at sea, sometimes 24 hours a day.

During flight operations, there is one space on the ship as busy, if not busier, than any other; Flight Deck Control.

“This (flight deck control) is the main communication point for everything that goes on out on the flight deck,” said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Ardinger, the aircraft handling officer, or “handler,” aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise.

Outside the windows of flight deck control, things move at a seemingly frantic pace. F/A-18E Super Hornets, among other aircraft, takeoff, approach, land and park on the flight deck. Propellers turn. Catapults launch. People yell over the sounds of jet engines and controlled chaos. They are equipped with headsets and radios, as well as different colored shirts and helmets, representing their jobs.

For example, the “yellow shirts” on the

flight deck have a specific role to play during flight operations.

“We direct airplanes. We direct people. We direct all traffic on the flight deck,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Handling 3rd Class Mary E. Nelson, a “director,” or “yellow shirt,” for the Air department. “We communicate with the air boss and the handler. They tell us what the bird needs, and we put it where it’s supposed to go.”

At any given time, there is something happening in virtually every section of the flight deck. Every Sailor needs to know what is going on around them at all times.

“Everything is dangerous out there,” said Ardinger. “There are just so many things. It’s never ending. You need to keep your head on a swivel from the time you step on the flight deck until the time you come back inside.”

Ardinger warns that if people need to do anything on the flight deck, and they don’t know what is going on up there, they need to go to flight deck control, ask questions, and get an escort.

On the island, high above the flight deck is the Plane Landing and Takeoff camera or “PLAT”. Through the eyes of the PLAT, one can see the entire 4.5 acres of nonskid that make up the flight deck.

“Up here they record everything that happens,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Benjamin Long, an Enterprise Sailor in the Air department.

Monday, Dec. 12, 2011Page 2 The Shuttle

The Shuttle is published and printed daily underway and bi-weekly in port by the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Media Depart-ment, FPO AE 09543-2810. This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Please direct all story ideas, questions and comments to MC1(SW) Steve Smith at smithsw@cvn65.navy.mil

Public Affairs OfficerLt. Cmdr. Sarah T. Self-Kyler

Executive OfficerCapt. G. C. Huffman

Commanding OfficerCapt. William C. Hamilton, Jr.

EditorsMC3(SW) Jeffry A. Willadsen

MCSN Eric BrannMCSN Harry Gordon

Big E Happenings

The ShuttleUSS Enterprise (CVN 65)

Question of the Day: 3MQ: What does LOEP stand for?

The newest Sailors to be assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) don their Enterprise ballcaps during an indoctrination graduation ceremony in “Big E’s” foc’sle Dec. 10. Enterprise’s indoctrination class is designed to prepare Sailors for life aboard an aircraft carrier at sea.

Photo by MC3(SW) Jeffry A. Willadsen

December:Dates You Need To Know

Dec. 16 - Return to PortDec. 16 - 1st Leave Period StartsDec. 27- 1st Leave Period EndsDec. 27 - 2nd Leave Period StartsJan. 6 - 2nd Leave Period Ends

Foreign Object Damage(FOD)

Command Master ChiefABCM (AW/SW) Eric M. Young

Yesterday’s answer: There are 10 repair lockers aboard Enterprise.

Command Climate Assessment

Foreign object damage is damage caused to aircraft by any debris (including screws, wire, buttons, etc.). It can cause significant harm not only to equipment, but also to personnel and the mission as a whole. It can be prevented. It is the responsibility of every Sailor to make sure FOD does not occur aboard our legendary ship. USS Enterprise Health Risk Assessment 2011

The Medical department is asking all personnel, military and civilian, to complete the assessment before Dec. 16.The purpose of the assessment is to help plan long-range health promotion activities, provide lifestyle education and provide a means to discuss concerns with a healthcare provider.

To access the HRA online, go to:

https://nmcpeh-web2.med.navy.mil/pls/newhra/hraUse UIC 03365 to enter the assessment.

The HRA takes approximately 30 seconds to load. You will not enter

any personally identifying information on this questionnaire. Once completed, select “Finished.” You may print the HRA then close the survey.

This is a health and wellness assessment rather than a disease screening tool. If you have any questions regarding your results or your health please make an appointment to discuss with a medical provider. Thank you for your participation in the survey.

Monday, Dec. 12, 2011 Page 3The Shuttle

Around the WorldHouse, Senate Negotiate Final DoD Bills

By Emelie Rutherford for Defense Daily

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

House and Senate lawmakers continued to hash out the final versions of the two Pentagon budget bills Friday in hopes of wrapping up the delayed measures--which dictate the fate of weapons including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter--in the coming days.

The heads of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) said they and their House counterparts have only a handful of matters left to reconcile in their competing policy-setting fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bills and could strike a final deal as soon as today.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate defense appropriators largely agreed this week to provisions of budget-setting FY ‘12 defense appropriations bill, which they plan to include in a massive omnibus appropriations bill covering most federal agencies nearing final passage.

For both defense bills, the previous versions endorsed in the House and Senate took different stances on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.) would not tell reporters yesterday what final differences remain between the House and Senate defense authorization bills. The SASC

and House Armed Services Committee (HASC) leaders met Tuesday, an official multi-lawmaker conference committee met Wednesday, and the four panel leaders gathered yesterday and plan to talk again today on the phone.

“We’ll be finished tomorrow,” McCain said yesterday. Levin declined to make such a prediction.

While the SASC leaders would not say if they and their House counterparts agreed on F-35 language, Levin again vented about news from Monday that the Pentagon reached a preliminary contractual agreement with Lockheed Martin for a fifth lot of F-35s. Levin said he does not know the details of the agreement but is concerned it does not jibe with the Senate-passed defense authorization bill.

The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) said in a statement late Monday it reached a “tentative agreement” with Lockheed Martin on “key terms” of the lot 5 contract, calling for a “fixed-price type contract vehicle and a concurrency clause where (the Department of Defense) DoD and Lockheed Martin will share responsibility on costs for concurrency changes--modification costs associated with changes discovered during development.”

The Senate bill, but not the House

Ban Ki-moon became the first United Nations secretary general to set foot in this war-ravaged country in almost 20 years on Friday, and he promised to relocate the United Nations’ political office for Somalia to Mogadishu next year, though other United Nations officials were skeptical. Ban met with leaders from Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, a weak, divided and thoroughly unpopular entity that the United Nations has been trying to prop up. Since 1991, the United Nations has pumped billions of dollars into the country, trying to achieve some sense of stability, though chaos and suffering continue to be the norm.

By the New York Times

Top U.N. Official Pays Visit to Somalia

version, states the lot 5 contract must be firm-fixed-priced and the company must pay all costs that exceed the target amount. Some House members have balked at the Senate F-35 language.

Perhaps the most-controversial issue with the defense authorization bill relates to military detainee policy. The White House has threatened to veto the Senate version over language calling for some al Qaeda suspects to be held in military custody. Levin and McCain have met with Obama administration officials in recent days about their opposition.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s House-Senate appropriations conference committee on the multi-agency appropriations bill entailed little other than comments from lawmakers about their continued negotiations. Republicans and Democrats are at odds over policy riders in some of the non-defense appropriations bills in the spending package with a near $1 trillion pricetag.

Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said, during the open conference meeting, he hopes lawmakers agree to a final omnibus spending bill next week and do not delay their holiday breaks. A compromise measure is expected to be filed Monday, to ensure both chambers vote on it by week’s end.

Monday, Dec. 12, 2011Page 4 The Shuttle

Big E Game Room

December 12, 2011 Movie Schedule

Channel & Show Air TimesChannel 6: Frost/Nixon 0900/1950Love And Other Drugs 1110/2200Unforgiven 1320/0010 Other People’s Money 1530/0220A League Of Their Own 1740/0430

Channel 7:Death At A Funeral 0900/1950How Do You Know 1110/2200Tangled 1320/0010Bee Movie 1530/0220Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium 1740/0430

Channel 8: Untouchables 0900/1950Quantum Of Solace 1110/2200Next Three Days 1320/0010Day After Tomorrow 1530/0220Iron Man 1740/0430

23 German film director Riefenstahl25 Norwegian inlets26 Boyfriends29 Kind of diver31 Art medium32 Skirt part33 Where Belgrade is36 Prefix with athlete37 Lives39 Anomalous

Across1 Have on5 Spherical bodies9 Florentine river13 Handel contemporary14 Country singer Bonnie16 Dire destiny17 Beatle with the beat19 Speechless20 Sham21 Gateway Arch designer

40 Listened to42 Legal thing43 Christmas44 Salad style46 Devoured47 Hooked claws48 Sunrise50 Devil worship52 Become fond of56 Newspaper notice57 Unique

59 Seagoing ice60 Greek sorceress61 Right-angled extensions 62 Care for63 “Carpe ___”64 Biological bristle

Down1 “Star Trek” speed2 Greek goddess of discord3 “Green Gables” girl4 Leo’s brightest star5 Actor-director Welles6 Cagney epithet7 It’s not fair!8 Attack from the air9 Devotee10 Circuitous11 Written commentary12 Augury15 Tramps18 Works of Shelley22 Valentine’s Day gift24 A day in Rome26 Not just one27 Dublin’s land28 Estrangement30 Islamic chiefs32 Devotion to pleasure34 Aimless35 Yemen port37 Military mission, briefly38 Feat41 Expanded43 New Englanders45 Gave out46 Actor McGregor47 Dining-room furniture49 Elite squad50 Gentle51 Skirt style53 Author ___ Stanley Gardner54 Pinball problem55 Greek peak58 “Gosh!”

Around the Ship

ABHAN Ashley K. Brown signals to an F/A-18E Super Hornet as it flies overhead during carrier flight deck qualifications aboard USS Enterprise (CVN 65).

Photo by MC2 (SW) Kristin L. Grover