On 2/14/04 4:13 PM, in article , "Mr Smith"
wrote:



Thank you for the responses. It appears as if the aircraft
in question, is nowhere near flight worthy at this time.

Just curious though,

What's a typical Vref speed for landing ? (presuming all
ordnance has been expended). And are these numbers something
the pilot calculates himself, or is it given to him ?


Roughly 125 knots.

Can ACLS be considered helpful at all ? (similar to perhaps
a Category III ILS auto land ?) Does any Hornet driver here
actually trust it ? (and why would you even use it?).


Nope. Lots of black boxes fighting to be sync-ed up with the ones on the
carrier. Not many NAS's have the SPN-46/48 (whatever) that is required to
conduct ACLS approaches at the field either. As I remember, Lemoore,
Oceana, and Whidbey have them... Not sure about the rest.

What is the crosswind technique alluded to below ? (in lieu
of the forward sideslip)?


Crab to land and kick out half the crab prior to touch down.

--Woody



"Doug "Woody" and Erin Beal" wrote in message
...


There are a couple of "gotchas" in just flying the thing, but nothing a
few
flights wouldn't iron out.

If you've never experienced flight gear, that would be a new treat
(helmet,
mask, torso harness, g-suit).

Since the motors are way in the back (35 or so feet behind you), you'd
have
to get used to the "detached" sensation of flying the jet. There is no
air
noise or airframe feedback with regard to airspeed or engine power setting
whatsoever. The airplane feels the same flying at 180 kts at 30000 feet
as
it does at 550 kts at 500 feet. A good instrument scan is a must.

WRT landings, the HUD makes them pretty easy. On this Lot 6, you may find
single chamber struts which means CV type landing is probably not a good
idea (max trap for single chamber struts was 30,500 lbs vice the 33k UNR
or
34K Restricted for the current F/A-18). Pretty simple stuff to flare a
landing in the Hornet though. I have taken guests into the simulator, and
the ones with some flight time do fairly well at getting it on the runway.

The biggest landing obstacle would be encouraging you NOT using a forward
slip as a crosswind correction--makes the airplane do the funky chicken on
the runway. OBTW, no localizer, ILS, VOR. Either fly TACAN approaches or
PAR in the weather (if you want a precision approach).

--Woody