Flight Deck

A typical day of the flight deck crew of the aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt. The ship and its crew of 3,600 men begin thier tour of duty with the 6th fleet by sailing from Jacksonville, Florida to the Mediterranean Sea. A routine day for the flight deck crew begins at 5 am and continues unitl 2 am. They launch aircraft with the steam-powered catapults. Planes land on the rolling and pitching deck. Their duties are fraught with dangers, such as blasts from jet engines and a broken arresting gear wire lashing across the deck. A pilot dies when his plane crashes into the sea. There is a burial service.