If you’ve never had the chance to go from 0 to 150 miles per hour in two seconds, I highly recommend it. In fact, the opposite — going from 150 mph to 0 in two seconds is pretty fun, too. That’s what happens when you land and take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

I had the chance to do both of these things this week, an unbelievable experience.

The video below was shot from the cockpit of the plane that brought me to the aircraft carrier, the Harry S. Truman, by my friend and StomperNet member, Lt. John Voight, one of the pilots.

John hooked me up with the Navy’s program that allows civilians to experience first-hand the incredible operational marvel of a modern nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Our group of nine flew out to the Truman on a C-2A Greyhound, spent the night on board amid tremendous naval hospitality, toured the ship, watched an air show at sea, and talked to everyone from the hardworking sailors to the captain and admiral and flew back the next day.

Of course, flying back required a 0 to 150 mph catapult launch off the deck — WooHoo!

This is the plane we flew, a C-2A Greyhound. It’s a turboprop that operates COD runs (Carrier Onboard Delivery).

To see the view from our plane as we land on the carrier, click the video below:

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The whole trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We got to stand on the flight deck, not more than 5-10 yards from the runway where F-18 Hornets and other jets and planes were landing. Here’s a photo of our group with an F-18 landing right behind us and a video.

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As you can see, we’re not more than a few yards from the actual runway.

To see them launching, here’s a video I took from the flight deck of a jet taking off. When the F-18’s launch, they are so loud and it vibrates so much that it kept shutting my camera off. Argh! (It’s so loud you have to wear ear plugs inside the normal hearing protectors.) Here’s a video of one launching from across the runway.

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Inside the carrier, we met with the people in charge of almost every department. We toured everything from the bridge, air traffic control, the mess halls (serving over 18,500 meals a day), the jet engine repair shop, munitions and magazines to the flight deck, waste management (all plastics compressed and taken off the ship) and the room with the anchor (two 1,000 ft chains where each link weighs 365 pounds).

On the second afternoon, three other ships in the carrier group came alongside to watch an air show at sea. We saw F-18’s launch fake missiles, and saw two jets fly by the ship and break the sound barrier right in front of us. Here’s a video of a jet flying faster than the speed of sound:

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