Blue Angels F-18A Hornet on E-Bay

The slats were intended to be used in the landing configuration. As AOA
increased beyond 12 units (not sure what that was in degrees) the
aerodynamic slats would deploy. Works great in 1 G flight. They will also
deploy at speed during maneuvering, something they were not specifically
designed for. A slightly misaligned and or binding slat track would hinder
deployment. One comes out, one doesn't and the pilot experiences a
significant roll. The effect can be anywhere from mildly annoying to quite
thrilling ... usually a function of airspeed, G and rate of G application.

Getting three tracks and sets of rollers to align perfectly, not just static
but in a dynamic environment, is tricky. Take a sticky dresser drawer and
how challenging that can be to get it "just right." Now cube it. There are
a lot of things mechanical that aren't rocket science, but still take a lot
of skill to do well.

R/ John

"Paul Michael Brown" wrote in message
news
A poorly rigged slat could spell disaster.

Not usually a problem if only called upon to do their job in 1 G level
flight. It's slat behavior in the flight regime at 300+KIAS that mark
the
work of a capable airframes shop.

OK, I've never been there, or done that. But it seems to me that the slats
are *really* simple. Obviously I'm missing something here. What is it
about the design and/or maintenance of the slats that requires "a capable
airframes shop?"

In article , Paul Michael Brown
wrote:

A poorly rigged slat could spell disaster.

Not usually a problem if only called upon to do their job in 1 G level
flight. It's slat behavior in the flight regime at 300+KIAS that mark the
work of a capable airframes shop.

OK, I've never been there, or done that. But it seems to me that the slats
are *really* simple. Obviously I'm missing something here. What is it
about the design and/or maintenance of the slats that requires "a capable
airframes shop?"

Yep, they are dirt simple until one of the rollers gets a bit sticky or
one of the slats gets a little bent then the devils's in the details.
As was noted, it doesn't make much of a difference in normal flight but
the first time you go into the merge and pitch hard and one sticks it's
a pretty damn violent effect that can range from simply a hard roll
away from the deployed side that corrects itself, to damn near tumbling
the airplane. The guys in my TRARON, who were civilian maint at the
time, did a pretty fair job of maintaining them to the point of
applying grease and such with Q-tips, they also had a gauge that looked
shop-made that they could push on the slats to measure how much force
it took to move and they tried to make the slats on each jet the same.


Pugs

John- Not usually a problem if only called upon to do their job in 1 G level
flight. It's slat behavior in the flight regime at 300+KIAS that mark the
work of a capable airframes shop. BRBR

Geeezzz, If I had an A-4...I would have to 'use' the slats to their
maximum...It would be fun to beat up other A/C...
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer