USS Carl Vinson Visit

HNL RareBirds™ was invited to go on an embark tour of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) today. As part of RIMPAC 2024, the Vinson is the lead aircraft carrier for this maritime exercise. The ship left port on 11 July, and began flight operations the next day, and has been running flight ops since. I was part of a five-person media group that included a reporter from Naval News, a pair of reporters from France, and a local independent writer.

For our embark tour, we were taken to Marine Corps Air Station at Kāneʻohe Bay (NGF), where we would ride on a CMV-22B from the VRM-30 "Titans". After a meeting and a safety briefing, we donned our aviators life preserver, foam earplugs, and cranial helmet, then proceeded to walk out to the ramp to our awaiting Osprey, Bu No 169454 (msn D2020, f/n 24). Once seated and strapped in, it was a short taxi to Runway 4, and a quick takeoff as RUDY24. Our flight out to CVN-70 was listed at 45 minutes, with a routing that turned left to cross the Ko‘olau Mountains, over metro Honolulu, and somewhere to the south.

Once aboard the USS Carl Vinson, we had lunch, then a quick briefing with the ship's PAO, LCMDR Devin Arneson and her team. Our first stop was the flight deck. Before going out, we all had to put on a safety vest, and cranial. There were FA-18Es, FA-18Fs, F-35s, and EA-18Gs being launched off of the two side catapults. Once the launches were completed, the deck was readied for recoveries as other jets were returning from their sorties. The closest we were to the to the launches and recoveries was about 15 yards.

After the flight deck, it was an interview session with Admiral Michael Wosje, Commander of Carrier Strike Group 1; and Captain Matthew Thomas, Commanding Officer of the USS Carl Vinson. We also got to see the flight ops room, the navigation room, and the observation deck to view more flight ops, but from a hight point-of-view. We also got a tour of the ship's medical section. After a short break, we were treated to a second tour of the flight deck, which had launches off one of the forward catapults, and recoveries on the aft deck.

The last part of the tour was the hangar deck, where there were some aircraft undergoing maintenance, and some stored to save flight deck space. It was amazing to see the amount of aircraft parked on this deck, and such a confined space.

When it was time to leave to return to K-Bay, we all got ready with our life preservers and cranials, and waited for our CMV-22B. RUDY24 returned to take us back to shore. We boarded the tilt-rotor, strapped in, and departed the Vinson in less than ten minutes. Our 45-minute flight took us back over Honolulu, the Koʻolau Range, and Kāneʻohe Bay, before landing on NGF's Runway 4. A short taxi to the Air Terminal ramp concluded as dusk began to fall.

We would like to extend a big māhalo to the people at RIMPAC Media for the invite of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thank you for your service!