"We had a platform as full as this night on the Shangri-la back In "68―half of 'em trainees," Pirate began. "Had two dozen airplanes to recover. Know the Douglas Skyray? Oddly shaped critter; held a bunch of time-to-climb records; called the 'Ford' because of its F4D designation. Anyway, the F-8s and A-4s trapped with no problem; so did the first three Skyrays. The fourth guy started―lined up way to the right―went low in the groove, settled at the ramp, so was waved off. The Spads delayed entering the pattern, and the F4D was turned downwind. This time, a high start went to a low, and I mean low. I called, 'Burner! Burner! Wave-off!' "The four Skyraiders trapped nicely, and the plane-guard helo moved in closer. The F4D didn't have much fuel to start with and was down to 800 pounds on this ball call. He had another erratic approach that ended with a high-at-the-ramp bolter. Alone in the pattern, he was down to 300 pounds abeam―too late to rig the barricade. In such cases, savvy LSOs know what's coming―a des-perate pilot in the go-for-it-mode because he has only one pass left.
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