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CNN SUNDAY MORNING

The Intricate Choreography of Aircraft Carrier Workers

Aired October 28, 2001 - 08:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It is a place of deafening noise, airplanes, roaring engines and very dangerous work. We're talking about the deck of an aircraft carrier. This morning, CNN's Miles O'Brien highlights the roles of some of the sailors of the Fifth Fleet and what they're playing out in the war or terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It could be the most dangerous place to work in the world. I'm talking about the four-and-a-half acre deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier. Let's take a look at some pictures of -- in this case -- the USS Carl Vinson, which we know is in the Arabian Sea. Some 80 aircraft onboard, about 50 of them are attack aircraft.

And if you take a close look, you may have wondered, why all the color-coding on the uniforms in the people crawling over the deck? For example, notice red jerseys there. These folks working with munitions. You notice the green here. Why are they color-coded? What are their various jobs? A lot of folks have been asking us these questions, and so we put together a little animation for you to give you a sense of it.

Let's -- this happens to be CV-65, which is the Enterprise; but this would apply for any U.S. aircraft carrier. The color-coding is the same. Let's take a little fly over the deck. Blue uniforms; blue: plane handlers. Their job is to take the aircraft which are in the hangars beneath decks, put them on the elevator, operate the elevator, bring them up, drive the tractor and get them queued up. It's sort of the first part of this intricate minuet.

Now let's move along and bring you along in this process. Once they're up on deck, you've got to get some fuel. The people in charge of the fuel wear purple shirts. The refuelers are called -- for somewhat obvious reasons -- grapes.

Now, let's move across. Once the fuel is onboard, it's time to put some munitions on: missiles and bombs. The red-shirted people do that. I had shown you those in the -- the video just a few moments ago. These folks put all of the munitions, hang them on the wings. Obviously hazardous work. In addition to those duties, they are involved in crash and salvage operations, as well as weapons disposal at the tail end of a mission. All right. Also important, of course, is to make sure that aircraft is checked out thoroughly before it goes on any mission. The people in brown are the air wing plane captains. They're the ones that pick apart those planes as carefully as possible, make sure they're ready to go, give it the final inspections and sort of sign off on that concept to the pilot. They are responsible for that aircraft to make sure, in this case, the F-18 is ready to fly.

Now, let's move across and give you a sense of what happens as this all reaches a crescendo. In the yellow shirts are the aircraft handling officers, catapult and arresting gear officers, the plane directors using a series of intricate hand signals. They bring the aircraft into position, get them ready to be attached to that incredibly strong catapult, which is operated by a huge steam piston underneath the deck here.

The green-shirted guys work in close concert with them. They're also called hook runners. They're involved in the operations of aircraft as they return to deck as well, when the tail hook attaches to the cables across the deck. What happens is, as that aircraft is put in place and hooked up to that catapult, yellow jersey and green jersey work in close concert. They wait for a final salute from the aircraft pilot; and then with somewhat great aplomb, usually, the yellow-jerseyed individual hits the deck with his hand, a signal comes from the green shirt, and off goes, in this case, the F-14.

What makes this all the more astounding is the fact that this can happen just about every 30 seconds. A dangerous place, indeed. The reasons those color-coded shirts are used is to sort everything out, make sure everybody's in the right place, and everybody in the planes and up in the control facilities knows exactly who's doing what and when.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: It is an amazing choreography to watch.

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