Day 2 of Serving at Sea: The day in the life of a Sailor

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wednesday marks the second full day of Serving at Sea for WWAY Morning Anchor Matt Bennett, who is in Norfolk, Virginia, getting to experience what it’s like to serve in the US Navy.

On this day, he was lifted to new heights.

Matt Bennett shows us a Navy LCAC, which stands for “Landing Craft Air Cushion”, before he goes for a ride.

The Navy LCAC is a hovercraft used to transport marines and their equipment from the ship, to the shore.

The LCAC weighs more than 200,000 pounds and can carry 100,000 pounds of equipment, which includes light armored vehicles, joint-light tactical vehicles, and humvees.

According to the Navy, it takes the coastline from being only 17% landable, to 70%.

LCAC Navigator Andrew Jacobson explains how the vehicle works.

“We hover right above the water, there’s a little air pocket about that big on the water. When the seas are rough, we can plan to go out and about with about 6.9 feet (of) significant wave height. There your weight is reduced what you can carry because it puts a lot of pressure on the bag if you’re getting slammed by the waves.”

Jacobson says his crew just got back from a deployment to the Baltic Sea, including Norway and Estonia.

There’s still much more to come from this Sailor For a Day Program.

On Thursday, Bennett will be flying out to an aircraft carrier which he says he has been looking forward to all week.