Your mission is complete. It’s time to return to the boat, refuel, get some chow and prepare for the next mission. As you come up the starboard side of the ship just above pattern altitude, the Air Boss clears you for the break. You break hard left, enter the pattern and begin your transition to land. You hit the 180, the 90, roll final, call the ball and continue lining up to land. Just as you land, take the trap and go to full military power, you…wake up. Drat! Another dream!
All of us at one time or another have dreamed of flying some really cool aircraft, and you just did it again. In your dreams, anyway. But you thought that entering that pattern was really something! It is. It has worked well for shipboard flight operations for eight decades. And it can work for you when you fly, no matter if your platform isn’t a multimillion-dollar jet or your runway isn’t doing 35 knots through the ocean.
