re: China's new bathtub toy

quote:

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Why do ours not have the jump on the end? What are drawbacks to that design vs flat like ours?

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Carrier decks aren’t long enough to allow aircraft to get airborne without assistance, generally.

The ski jump is one way to solve that problem. It gives the aircraft additional altitude when it leaves the carrier, and in turn additional time, once it drops over the edge of the deck, to build up speed.

We use a steam powered, and now electromagnetic catapult for the same purpose. The catapult accelerates the aircraft rapidly, allowing it to take off from the short carrier runway.

Catapults are more complicated, and more expensive, but they allow us to launch larger and heavier aircraft.