Video: F/A-18 Hornet low flying

[fly_tornado]

[medio=full]341[/medio]

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

An astute viewer would notice that this aircraft has a roll rate much like that of the Jabiru J170.

 

 

[ozbear]

Yes jabiru7252 and speed like the jab too

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

That is pretty extreme flying even for a super-jet jocky !......the Mirage 111D rolled twice as fast though, so quick in fact you wern't really sure you had done a roll at all. One wrong push inverted at that low-level and it's all over crispy critter !!........I was flying in the Townsville area one day listening on Townsville approach. F-18s out of Townsville were using the live firing and bombing range to the West....one F-18 reported 15nm inbound, and was cleared to land at Townsville..."Just give me a minute or two to loosen up out here prior to landing" was the reply from the F-18 !...loosen up !#*?? what a girl !!!.................................Maj...

 

 

[eightyknots]

[medio=full]341[/medio]Commercial/Military Aviation - YouTubeF/A-18 Hornet carrying out low altitude training in the canyons of Northern California

 

ridiculously close to the ground.

 

Keywords:

 

djpacro said: ↑

 

One gets a safer ride with a certified aeroplane

 

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fly_tornado, Monday at 3:52 PMReportPost-it Note

 

#1

Let's put the two statements together, FT: Are F/A 18 Hornet's 'certified'? If so, with the above logic, they must be safe!

 

 

[johnm]

The way that certified F 18 rolls - the nose of that plane was rock solid on the horizon - looks like its all aileron for roll and elevator for vertical - no rudder at all I guess ?

 

Be nice to know ?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Let's put the two statements together, FT: Are F/A 18 Hornet's 'certified'?

I am pretty sure the FAA has a military exemption. The system work like this: the USAF pumps money into a project until the planes stop falling out of the sky.

 

When I was in Reno in 2011, the F22s where grounded because the computers where shutting off the pilot's oxygen systems...

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

The way that certified F 18 rolls - the nose of that plane was rock solid on the horizon - looks like its all aileron for roll and elevator for vertical - no rudder at all I guess ? Be nice to know ?

I had a great opportunity a few years back to fly an F18 simulator (worth zillions) and was told (while throwing the thing around) not to use any rudder as the computers take care of that. Made a great text book landing in the thing as well.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

After a certain speed, fast jets, like bullets just want to sorta go straight !!!!....the wind doesn't really push them around much at 600 Kts ! ...................................Maj...

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

The way that certified F 18 rolls - the nose of that plane was rock solid on the horizon - looks like its all aileron for roll and elevator for vertical - no rudder at all I guess ?Be nice to know ?

Modern military jet......don't think for one moment that the controls tie directly and only to their respective control surfaces.....in reality the flight controls saw the pilot fed in roll on the control stick and then the computers used all the laser ring gyros and other control surfaces to ensure that a roll occurred with no deviation in any other direction....there was probably actuations of every control surface during each of those "simple" rolls. Modern jets are designed to be aerodynamically unstable without the computers the pilot wouldn't have a hope in hell of being ahead of the machine....

 

Its why RC modellers who build and fly modern jets should be considered to be pretty bloody good.....they manage the flight with raw controls, perhaps a gyro to assist in stabilisation in one axis. but there are manoeuvres they wont go near because without the onboard computers they will not recover....anyone ever tried a hammerhead in a modern jet form......... your likely to end up with a the aircraft spinning around the c of g axis, a spin that can only be recovered from with thrust to force the control surfaces back into play........

 

Andy

 

 

[kgwilson]

I saw some bomb sight camera footage of a pair of RNZAF A4 Skyhawks doing some ridiculously low flying just after they took them out of service. It was B/W film but good quality for the day and at times they were no more than a couple of metres above ground. It's a shame the Kiwis no longer can afford fast fighter jets as in their day they were renowned for their crazy exploits. They even used to perform barrel rolls while refuelling at airshows.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

The Douglas A4 Skyhawk was a great little aircraft, one of the last designs of Ed Hieneman who designed many other Douglas aircraft. They were very small and manourvable and did very well off the carriers during Vietnam. The NZ navy bought them through Williamtown on occasions, and one had to do an engine change. They just spilt the aircraft in two, and rolled back the rear half exposing the engine. Old engine out, new engine in, bolt tail back on...finished, gone !...

 

I saw the US Navy Blue Angles fly them at Californian air shows and Reno in the 80s many times, and it was always a precise and exciting show. They were a good flying aircraft. They had two separate control systems. Hydrylic for high speed flight, and standard wire control system for carrier landings, apparantly the hydrylics didn't have enough 'feel' for tricky carrier landings.............................................Maj...

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

I saw a Singaporean A4 land wheels up at Amberley. It was just pilot stuff up......ATC on providing landing clearance always then added "check wheels" to the authorisation...it obviously got missed.

 

The Skyhawk had large ferry tanks fitted under each wing....Crash crew put a big blow up bag under the main fuselage lifted it up, dropped the gear, changed the ferry tanks and the pilot flew the plane back to Singapore for some Depot level maintenance.....I suspect he was allowed 1G +/- 1/2g only and had quite a few tense miles over the water......

 

Anyway tough little machine......tiny but next to a Pig!

 

Andy

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

Nice video.

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

Imagine you're lying relaxed and slightly stoned out there in the forest and BOOOOOM - this thing flys over you at 50 feet and doing 400kph.

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

The RAAF has a bombing range at Salt Ash near RAAF Base Williamtown, the low level pop bomb pattern used to put us over a house in the middle of the bush at 250ft & 540kts, can only imagine how noisy that was........the sound of freedom.