F-14s catapulting from carriers

I grew up as a Navy brat so I have been on aircraft carriers before but this is a really cool video of how the launching mechanism works on airplanes.

This small metal thing on the deck of the carrier grabs a metal pole that hangs down from the aircraft and basically slingshots it into the air. I’d be curious to know what kind of mechanism is working below the deck that can pull an F-14 from zero to airborn in under 400 feet.

The landing mechanism is equally cool, I’ll look around to see if I can find a video of that, and I’ll post it later.

-Josh