FA-18: hands off?

[Typhoon1244]

I was reading a book recently wherein the author made a passing reference to cat shots in the Hornet being flown "hand-off," i.e. the pilot doesn't touch the stick.

Can anybody tell me about this? Sounds dangerous (by my standards as an all-civilian pilot ).

 

[hogdriver00]

F/A-18

What you read is correct. During a Cat shot you keep your left hand on the throttle and your right hand off the stick and on a handle that is about eye level to the right of your field of view. If you see video of a Cat shot , look for the pilots right hand. The reason has to do with the flight control computers. It's no big deal at all. The jet just flys off the deck with a slight nose up attitude and then you grab the stick

Hog

 

[Typhoon1244]

If something comes unglued during the shot (flameout, etc.), do you still let the computer fly initially, or do you take over? (In this tale, the pilot gets a series of compressor stalls as the catapult fires, grabs the stick, ends up over-controlling and losing the airplane.)

 

[hogdriver00]

FA-18

Best I can remember, you don't do anything different until you leave the deck. It's been a few years though.

 

[TankerPuke]

Just asked a HORNET driver this question - he said computer flies the plane off the deck for about 1 second. Basically putting the plane into a slight bank and nose high attitude. Pilots grab the stick as soon as "you feel the plane leap off the deck", which he stated was almost instantly.

PUKE

 

[Maj]

During the catapult shot, the Flight Control Computers (FCC) program the stabs at a rate to capture an optimum angle of attack during fly away. The pilot sets a stabilator trim setting based on aircraft weight that affects the rate of AOA capture. Higher trim setting = higher rate of capture. There is no lateral input (bank). During the daytime, you bank to the right off Cats 1/2 and to the left off Cats 3/4 to both establish lateral sep from the other cats and to ensure that you won't get runover by Mom if you have to eject. The reason that the pilot holds on to the towel rack during the cat stroke is that any control inputs can cause the FCCs to command nose down stab movement and severe PIO. Airplanes have almost gone into the drink (one did due to FCC error) because pilots have commanded aft stick during the cat shot, and the FCC subsequently commanded nose down. It can be ugly.
The optimum AOA is achieved almost immediately after the jet becomes airborne, and it is then safe to make normal inputs with the stick.

Hope that answers the question.
Maj

 

[ShawnC]

Re: F/A-18

What you read is correct. During a Cat shot you keep your left hand on the throttle and your right hand off the stick and on a handle that is about eye level to the right of your field of view. If you see video of a Cat shot , look for the pilots right hand.

Hog

Video:
http://movies.lazyeights.net/Aviation - Military - Airplane - F18 - Takeoff from Cockpit.avi

Or here if that's too slow:
http://lazyeights.net/movies/Aviation - Military - Airplane - F18 - Takeoff from Cockpit.avi

 

[Typhoon1244]

Re: Re: F/A-18

http://lazyeights.net/movies/Aviation - Military - Airplane - F18 - Takeoff from Cockpit.avi

Jesus, what a rush!

(That looks painful...)