Re: F-18 Approach and touchdown speeds on runways?

[Paul Michael Brown]

> About 129-134 is common. 8.1 degrees AOA. For carrier landings, it's 800
> feet per minute all the way to touchdown (3.5 degree glide slope). For
> field landings, it's about the same 700-800 FPM and a 3.0 degree glide
> slope. Most senior guys flare to land to save center barrel life and FLE.

What is the "center barrel" and the "FLE? and why does flaring save them?

[Thomas Schoene]

Paul Michael Brown wrote:
>> About 129-134 is common. 8.1 degrees AOA. For carrier landings,
>> it's 800 feet per minute all the way to touchdown (3.5 degree glide
>> slope). For field landings, it's about the same 700-800 FPM and a
>> 3.0 degree glide slope. Most senior guys flare to land to save
>> center barrel life and FLE.
>
> What is the "center barrel" and the "FLE? and why does flaring save
> them?


The center barrel of the F/A-18 is the main fuselage section around the
engines to which the wings and main landing gear are attached. It appears
to be the limiting component for airframe fatugue life in the F/A-18.

FLE is Fatigue Life Expended, which I understand to be a measure of how much
wear the airframe has accumulated and thus how many likely safe flying hours
the plane has left.

Flaring reduces the descent rate on landing, which decreases the amount of
energy the airplane (including the center barrel section in the F/A-18) has
to absorb when it hits the runway. That should reduce fatigue and conserve
FLE.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872

[Ray]

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 16:43:57 -0500, "John Carrier" >
wrote:

>The approach plates have a conversion table for ground speed, glide slope
>and rate of descent. 800 FPM is a wee bit high, closer to 700. OBTW, while

I was figuring in the normal nose down at the ramp for the deuce I
normally had to do. :)

Ray

[Tony Volk]

As an interesting story, I was once corresponding with a Marine aviator
to talk about his experience in the F-18 (and Harrier I believe). Any how,
at that time (over five years ago) it wasn't uncommon for folks to pass
themselves off here as aviators when they really weren't. So as a quick
test, I decided to ask him how much you flared a Bug on a runway landing.
Well, I seem to have hit the wrong spot because his reply email was a
full-blown, drill sergeant ass-chewing telling me that the Marine Aviation
Community was a small one, and if I was a smart-assed student playing a
prank on him I was going to get it BIG TIME. So I explained myself and
apologized for the question.
Without giving out any names (he was a real gentlemen and very helpful
after that), I've always been curious if he had an incident in his past
regarding flaring and landing- or are marine aviators always that touchy?
Cheers,

Tony

"Guy Alcala" > wrote in message
. ..
> So what's a A-D model touch down at, and what's the typical
> descent rate? Do you make flared landings or do you do them
> all constant alpha?
>
> Guy
>

[Ogden Johnson III]

"Tony Volk"
istoo> wrote:

> As an interesting story, I was once corresponding with a Marine aviator
>to talk about his experience in the F-18 (and Harrier I believe). Any how,
>at that time (over five years ago) it wasn't uncommon for folks to pass
>themselves off here as aviators when they really weren't. So as a quick
>test, I decided to ask him how much you flared a Bug on a runway landing.
>Well, I seem to have hit the wrong spot because his reply email was a
>full-blown, drill sergeant ass-chewing telling me that the Marine Aviation
>Community was a small one, and if I was a smart-assed student playing a
>prank on him I was going to get it BIG TIME. So I explained myself and
>apologized for the question.
> Without giving out any names (he was a real gentlemen and very helpful
>after that), I've always been curious if he had an incident in his past
>regarding flaring and landing- or are marine aviators always that touchy?

Must have been because he is a Marine. No Navy Naval Aviator
would have objected to being tested to see if he was a fake,
wannabe, Naval Aviator or the real deal. How dare he react like
that! He should have swallowed your insult without comment.
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

[Tony Volk]

> Must have been because he is a Marine. No Navy Naval Aviator
> would have objected to being tested to see if he was a fake,
> wannabe, Naval Aviator or the real deal. How dare he react like
> that! He should have swallowed your insult without comment.

Late reply, but that couldn't have been it because he didn't know that
when I asked the question. He really thought it was some kind of prank from
a junior marine, which is why I was wondering if that sort of thing was
common. I appreciate that the "test" was/is somewhat insulting (why I
apologized for it), but after having several people try to pass themselves
off, I thought I'd just ask a simple question first before I started asking
"real" questions. And again, the gentleman in question was just that, a
gentleman who gave me some really interesting info about marine aviation.
I'm not at all insulted by any of his behavior, just curious as to why he
automatically thought I was a m.a. student.
I've done the same with many of the pilots who post in this newsgroup
(and .military), and have found just about every single one of them to be
very informative and helpful (and they understand the need to be careful of
wannabes). It's been said before, but it's worth saying again that their
contributions certainly make this newsgroup worth coming to, and their
personal contributions to my curiosity have certainly helped me learn a lot
more about military aviation. Thanks guys (and gal)!

Tony