Blue Angels

[cardinalflyer]

I was watching The Discovery Channel the other night about the Blue Angels. During a specific segment the commentator stated that the F-18s had to refuel 12 times from Honolulu to Pensacola; is that accurate? Sounded a little excessive to me (even though I know nothing about F-18s). What speed would they fly? Would they break mach 1?

 

[stonewall]

Pond crossings are done at 310 Kts, which is standard air-refueling speed (at least for USAF). You might get the tanker to push it up in some cases if the conditions permit.

The reason for the high number of refuelings is distance/fuel to the nearest piece of concrete. Sometimes you might be topping off continuously for an hour, like if you're crossing the southern Atlantic and the closest divert is Iceland. Once you get close to your destination and/or more alternates, you can burn down to a lower fuel state before you refuel.

 

[SIG600]

+1.

You gotta stay topped off in case you lose the ability to refuel, not because you're burning so much gas. Hornet usually refuels slower too... 270 knot range (have to be < 300 to move the probe in or out). Plus our max range profile is going to be in the .6-.7 mach range at altitude.

 

[JungleJett]

southern Atlantic and the closest divert is Iceland

I can think of a whole lot of other place to divert to while flying in the SOUTHERN Atlantic...maybe part of Africa or South America...

But thats just me....






( I knew what you meant....just busting your chops.)

 

[SIG600]

Ya, divert your jet full of secure radio's, crypto, etc into a third world country that's going to have no services, and no ability to fix you, no security, etc. Then the USAF/Navy/etc. has to spend several weeks organizing a rescue det to get parts and maintainers in to get you out.

If we had to divert a Hornet into Afghanistan, even with ISAF bases it would have been a at least a week before anything could be organized to get you out. Point is the closest runway is not always a viable divert.

I can think of a whole lot of other place to divert to while flying in the SOUTHERN Atlantic...maybe part of Africa or South America...

But thats just me....






( I knew what you meant....just busting your chops.)

 

[cardinalflyer]

Thanks for the replies...About how many miles can a F-18 fly at mach 1 or higher? How often would you go that fast (non combat)?

 

[SIG600]

Unless you're a Raptor guy, then they run around all day Mach +.

The Hornet can barely get above Mach 1 in level flight below 10K feet with anything on it more than a single drop tank. Down hill in burner is what it usually takes, and you've got maybe 5-7 minutes like that assuming you have a full bag of gas.

 

[McGillicutty]

Ya, divert your jet full of secure radio's, crypto, etc into a third world country that's going to have no services, and no ability to fix you, no security, etc. Then the USAF/Navy/etc. has to spend several weeks organizing a rescue det to get parts and maintainers in to get you out.

If we had to divert a Hornet into Afghanistan, even with ISAF bases it would have been a at least a week before anything could be organized to get you out. Point is the closest runway is not always a viable divert.

There are airplanes with guns, more secure radios/crew members and worth 4x more than a Hornet that list (and have diverted to) third world country airports with no services etc. If it needs to be done, it can.

 

[SIG600]

Landing a P-3 in China doesn't count.

You can divert into Karachi Pakistan, that doesn't make it a good idea.

 

[bagasticks]

Yeah, maybe t-tailers/tankers. You just throw parts, techs in another same unit tail and make a tdy out of it.

Logistical nightmare getting parts and people from a fighter unit deployed to some craphole in the middle of the ocean.

war story, when i was wrenching hornets back in the day we had one crap an AMAD on the range in south korea and it diverted into Yechon, R.O.K. Took 4 days to get me and a partner t-tailed from Iwakuni, and we sat there for 6 days awaiting parts from NADEP on the east coast, 2 days in work, hornet left, we waited another week to get t-tailed back to iwakuni, and this was a short hop. .

It is much easier for airlift dudes to get airlifted, than it is for a pointy nose dude to arrange short notice airlift. .throw air refuleing in and you can double it unless you can get a tanker to both which is easier in the marines because we had KC-130's. .


i digress