I heard on the radio that he even got a little stick time on the way out to the carrier. Cool. I guess being CinC does have its advantages. "You want to spend the next 3 years in Greenland? No? Ok, I've got it!"

While the flight and landing were routine, you know the pilot was under quite a bit of pressure. Not only was every one on board watching him land, it was being broadcast live on the news. A bolter (botched landing) would've been hard to live down. Not only that, but he probably had to run all the checklists and do all the procedures by himself unless there was another pilot in back helping out. My guess is that he's a check pilot qualified to fly the plane by himself. Normally, both pilot and copilot work together to perform all the cockpit duties. The picture I saw looked like a perfect 3 wire trap. Good job.