rhino123 said:
Sorry for the amatuer question... is it possible to have two ski ramps on a carrier? That way you could launch two aircrafts at the same time.
Rhino, they could add another ramp, but not in this deck configuration. They would never add a ramp on that waist sponson because that is at the end of the "runway," and they need that level space there so a landing aircraft that misses a wire can accelerate in full afterburner and escape and fly around and try again. That's what they call a "bolter."
Also, when training new pilots it is fairly regular practice for those pilots to come in and do touch and goes down the landing deck and they need a flat end of runway to do so, which a ski-jump there would interfere with.
So, they would have to completely redesign the deck to accommodate a second ramp...which means the vessel would probably end up being much bigger...and if they were going to do that, they might as well design a CATOBAR carrier.
You have not provided any convincing reason why it couldn't be safely done.
Chuck, I never said it
couldn't be done. That was not your original assertion to which I was replying.
Launching aircraft off of the Liaoning is a worthy point to consider and discuss. Having another option would add to their capability, if that is what the intended, or if that is what they wanted. My answer was that it is not what is intended.
There is plenty of evidence that is was not designed or intended to be done. There is no take-off stripe leading over that sponson from the waist position. There is a launch stripe leading from that same waist position over the bow. Ergo, they do not intend to launch over the sponson. If they did, they would mark it accordingly...and they have not. And the Russians never have on the sister ship launching the same types of strike fighters for 20 years. That's enough evidence as to their intent.
My earlier comment was in reference to this statement you made:
Chuck731 said:
It appears the j-15 is taking off from the waist position, as I suspected will become part of normal operating procedure when Liaoning is operational
You indicated that it "appeared" that the J-15 was taking off from the waist position,
AND that "as you suspected," it would become a normal part of operations on the Liaoning. My reply was that no, it did not take off from the waist position, and no, it would not be a normal part of Liaoning operations for the reasons I both showed in my earlier post, and now explained. The Chinese themselves have shown their pilots (and by extension, us) how they intend for the launch positions to be used.
In an emergency, or from a purely academic standpoint, could they do it? Perhaps so. But again, what they could do as a one off, and what they will do as a normal part of their operations are two different things.
