How Twitter Rocked My World. By John Mason-Smith Part 4

This is Part 4. Click here to view Part 3.
From the Bridge, the PAO tour guides led us next to an area of flight ops just below the bridge. It had a great view of the dusk cycle of launches off catapult 3 and 4. One of the officers explained how the cycles of launches work and the order of the launches that I explained earlier. I found this room had a great view of the bow and you could see the ship turning into the wind for the evening work. Our guide shared that the lights at the end of the bow show red or green depending on whether the launch for that catapult is ready.

Even though the weather was a chilly but we then moved on to the outside viewer area called the Vultures Nest. This is an area safely outside above the flight deck but not out of the way of the noise. The entire time we were on the ship we could hear each takeoff and land loud and clear. Out on the Vulture’s Nest, we wore our foamies with headphones. While the front launches 3 and 4 can’t be seen well here it was a great view of catapult numbers 1 and 2 on the side and a great look at the recoveries.

Then we watched the arrested landings from the Vulture's Deck. All the while jets on their last circle were flying overhead.

In my Part 5, I will share about my stateroom, ship store and more. Click here to read part 5.