Naval Aviator's Lament - Facing The Ramp Monster.

"There is a RAMP MONSTER underneath my bunk! It stalks me. It is hunting me. It lies in wait, ready to pounce.It wants to kill me, and those in my close vicinity. It is always hungry, always on the prowl. It does not rest, does not sleep. It is always with me, in front of me, behind me, beneath me, and worst of all above me. Ramp Monster is cruel with insatiable appetite. Ramp Monster's prey is apathy, lethargy, lack of focus, arrogance, ignorance, uncontrolled fear, lack of attention, poor discipline. Ramp Monster will devour me, incinerate me, rip me apart, drown me, and will do so without hesitation or warning.

Ramp Monster cannot be defeated, but it can be survived. How do I survive a Ramp Monster? By knowing that Ramp Monster is there next to you, facing it, and honoring the threat." - Naval Aviator's lament. Author-unknown.

Yeah, no kidding it is a Monster. Just yesterday I had a really great trap going (for me) and thought this may be my best pattern approach yet. But then I must have lost attention, throttle was too low and....let's just say I did a really nice explosion against the back of the hull. I hope no one was down there watching.

Yeah. the Ramp Monster thats above you is worst of all. So you were low on power and settled, between inclose to at the ramp. Yep that is a formula for meeting the Ramp Monster.

Was it a total blaze of glory, or you just sheared off gear?

I just remembered where I got it from. 'The Sixth Battle' by Barrett Tillman (1992). A novel about modern carrier warfare. Where a resurgent' Russian fleet of Kuznetsov and Varyag with their battle group , duke it out with a Forrestal Class CV + battle group. Title is a play on meme, that in history of naval aviation, there have been 5 battles fought between carriers in open sea. Thus the title of the novel. There is a tiny bit cross-over mention to another techno-thriller Red Phoenix, Larry Bond (1989), a novel of 2nd Korean War.

The first chapter is titled 'Gregory Meets The Ramp Monster'. IThe chapter describes , in detail, Case I carrier recovery procedure in a narrative style. Author takes US Navy/NATO Case I recovery and applies to the Russian Carrier Air Wing. Aviator, Gregory (no last name), is trying to land his navalized SU-25K which is described more like SU-39, on Kuznetzov. He bolters twice, gets a wave off on third, runs out of patience, and forces himself to trap his aircraft on fourth. He is concerned that he will look bad to the crew and his superiors. So he resolves to trap , no matter what. He meets the Ramp Monster. They author alluding to issue of ego and how it relates to high skill/high risk aviation tasks and flight safety.

Approaching in-close distance. Your world shrinks to you and meatball, stick, throttle, and rudder. Meatball and AOA indexer is all you look at. Not FPM, not KIAS. Total concentration.