With a thunderous bang, a Navy F/A-18 slammed onto the deck of the USS Carl Vinson on Feb. 16, snagging a steel wire with its tailhook to complete a “trap,” the Navy’s term for a safe landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
Though carrier traps can be famously terrifying, the pilot of this F/A-18 was probably not particularly nervous. For Rear Adm. Michael Wosje, the landing was his 1,000th time piloting a plane onto a carrier deck, a milestone that put Wosje into one of the most exclusive lists in the U.S. military: the Navy’s Grand Club, the list of Navy pilots and flight officers who have recorded 1000 carrier traps.
Capt. Sterling Gilliam, a retired Navy captain with over 1,300 traps, is the director of the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, which maintains a board with the names of every aviator to hit 1,000 traps. The Tailhook Association’s website also keeps an online list of self-reported 1000-trap flyers.
