This GoPro video will bring you the closest as you can get to the flight deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier during catapult launches

Fantastic footage of a modern U.S. aircraft carrier during blue water operations.

The following footage will bring aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) nuclear-powered aircraft carrier during routine flight operations.

The video was recorded with a GoPro camera attached to the helmet of a Catapult Topside Petty Officer, whose job is to ensure the proper hook-up of the aircraft to the catapult while ensuring the safety of all personnel on the flight deck during launching operations.

It starts about one minute until launch, with the first launch taking place at around 1:14.

You can see several aircraft belonging to the CVW-7 including F/A-18C Legacy Hornets, F/A-18F Super Hornets (Rhinos) and the EA-6B Prowler.

The video was filmed in 2013: the “Ike” is currently undertaking a 14-month Drydocking Planned Incremental Availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.