Fuel management, landing weight and "bring back" edit
Load, max trap, time, dump, endurance,
Landing on an aircraft carrier often takes several attempts, and there is typically no "alternate" landing field. Therefore, having a sufficient fuel reserve for landing is a major issue for carrier pilots, and they typically return to the ship with a significantly larger fuel reserve than do land-based aircraft. This fuel is closely monitored.
as the aircraft gets closer to landing, so as to
Unfortunately, more fuel equals more weight, and fighter aircraft need to be relatively light for landing.
"Bring back" is a term used to describe how much ordnance, equipment, and fuel an aircraft can land with aboard the carrier. Carrier aircraft can launch at a much higher gross weights than that which they can "bring back" aboard the carrier. A Hornet, for example, can launch at 59,000lbs, but can only recover at 34,000lbs. The total gross weight is made up of the basic weight (airframe, engines, etc.), plus optional items such as equipment, ordnance, external fuel tanks, fuel, etc. A Hornet's basic weight is (roughly) 25,000lbs, so it can carry an additional 24,000lbs of equipment/ordnance/fuel. If the intent is to expend all the ordnance and burn most of the fuel, landing weight is not a problem. Modern, precision weapons, however, are extremely expensive, and contingency operations often call for armed airborne aircraft that are not required to expend their weapons. Therein lies the dilemma: the more ordnance that is carried (and not expended), the less fuel can be retained.
This optional equipment must be closely managed (e.g. expended or not loaded), so that the aircraft can land with sufficient fuel reserve.
An example illustrates the point:
(25K+24K=59K). of launch at a gross weight of If it carries 6,000lbs of ordnance and equipment, the maximum amount of fuel it can land with is 3,000lbs. If, say 4,000lbs this ordnance is released in flight, the Hornet would now be able to bring back 7,000lbs of fuel.
Additionally, if a Naval Aviator mismanages his fuel, he cannot simply land earlier than planned as his ground-based counterpart can - the carrier is typically involved in activities (like running downwind or launching aircraft) that are not compatible with aircraft recovery.