This is what a trap landing on the flight deck of USS Truman aircraft carrier looks like from the cockpit of a U.S. Navy C-2A Greyhound aircraft.
The Grumman C-2A Greyhound is a twin-engine, high-wing cargo aircraft, designed to perform the COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) mission: it carries equipment, passengers (including occasional distinguished visitors) supplies and mail to and from U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.
The following video shows the last few minutes of one of the daily sorties flown by a C-2A(R) Greyhound of the Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 (VRC-40), also known as the “Rawhides”, usually from Manama, Bahrain, to the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier operating somewhere in the Persian Gulf, in the 5th Fleet AOR (Area Of Responsibility). VRC-40 is a United States Navy fleet logistics support squadron based at NS Norfolk. It is one of only two active fleet logistics squadrons in the Navy, the other being VRC-30. Both Squadrons support aircraft carriers at sea across the world.
The footage starts with the COD aircraft approaching the carrier in the VFR pattern. You can see the pilots perform the overhead break, enter the downwind, and make the base turn for the final approach and arrested landing. While every trap landing video is interesting, this is particularly awesome because you get to see it from two different points of view, thanks to a split screen editing.
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Initially scheduled to be retired in 2027, the C-2A(R) will be eventually retired in 2024, when the last squadron is expected to phase out the Greyhound. The U.S. Navy is getting 39 CMV-22 out of 58 Ospreys included in a 4.2B USD contract signed by the Pentagon in 2018 to fully replace the C-2 fleet. The first operational CMV-22B Osprey configured for the COD role was delivered to the U.S. Navy on June 22, 2020. The aircraft, registration #169437, is assigned to Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron 30 (VRM-30) “Titans” at Naval Air Station North Island. The Titans are the first CMV-22B squadron that was stood up in December 2018, a year before the first flight of the “CODsprey” (as some nicknamed the new aircraft), and they will receive 18 aircraft in total.
Anyway, until they are completely retired, the venerable C-2A continue to connect the flattops to land bases with multiple daily flights to/from the aircraft carriers and “ensuring victory at sea through logistics.”
