- Jul 19, 2005
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Here are the pictures that I took several weeks ago at McChord AFB in Washington. These five pictures feature the US Navy F/A-18C Hornet performed by the West Coast Demonstration Team.
This was the Hornets opening pass. The jet is really about 150 feet off the deck (as you can tell by Mt. Rainier in the background) and performed an extremely sharp 90 degree turn, followed by an abrupt pull to the vertical. All of which lasted about 3 seconds. One of the outstanding features of the Hornet is it's incredible pitch rate. Dispite its lack of thrust vectoring, it is still one of the most maneuverable aircraft in the world. One of the only non-thrust vectored jets in the world that CAN outmatch it is the new sibling, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. the jet is at about 350 mph right here. 350kts and below is where the jet seems to be happiest.
Here is the jet as it performs a "square loop." As you guessed it is comprised of four perfectly straight segements with four sharp corners. Back when the airacraft came out in the mid-late 80's, it was the first, and only aircraft on the airshow circut to perform this amazing maneuver. Again, thanks to the excellent thrust-to-weight ratio and outstanding pitch rate. The aircraft is going about 500 mph right here.
Aw, the marks of a much used jet. Look at all those oil/grease/soot stains under that bird. Makes me happy. Here it is just as the pilot rolls the airacraft over to perform the minimum radius turn. The jet will perform the 360 degree turn within 1,400 feet.
A good look into the jets two General Electric F-404-GE-400 Afterburning turbofan engines. Each produce about 16,000 lbs of thrust and represent more power than the entire starting linup of the Indy 500.
One performance ends while another begins. Here is the wonderful Hornet taxiing by as airshow performer Bud Granley takes off in his T-6A Texan.
Sorry for the low quality, the scanner my parents have on this computer is really only for making copies and not really for photo editing. AND, it doesn't have a decent photo editor. lol This is the best I could do.
Hope you all enjoy the pictures!
This was the Hornets opening pass. The jet is really about 150 feet off the deck (as you can tell by Mt. Rainier in the background) and performed an extremely sharp 90 degree turn, followed by an abrupt pull to the vertical. All of which lasted about 3 seconds. One of the outstanding features of the Hornet is it's incredible pitch rate. Dispite its lack of thrust vectoring, it is still one of the most maneuverable aircraft in the world. One of the only non-thrust vectored jets in the world that CAN outmatch it is the new sibling, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. the jet is at about 350 mph right here. 350kts and below is where the jet seems to be happiest.
Here is the jet as it performs a "square loop." As you guessed it is comprised of four perfectly straight segements with four sharp corners. Back when the airacraft came out in the mid-late 80's, it was the first, and only aircraft on the airshow circut to perform this amazing maneuver. Again, thanks to the excellent thrust-to-weight ratio and outstanding pitch rate. The aircraft is going about 500 mph right here.
Aw, the marks of a much used jet. Look at all those oil/grease/soot stains under that bird. Makes me happy. Here it is just as the pilot rolls the airacraft over to perform the minimum radius turn. The jet will perform the 360 degree turn within 1,400 feet.
A good look into the jets two General Electric F-404-GE-400 Afterburning turbofan engines. Each produce about 16,000 lbs of thrust and represent more power than the entire starting linup of the Indy 500.
One performance ends while another begins. Here is the wonderful Hornet taxiing by as airshow performer Bud Granley takes off in his T-6A Texan.
Sorry for the low quality, the scanner my parents have on this computer is really only for making copies and not really for photo editing. AND, it doesn't have a decent photo editor. lol This is the best I could do.
Hope you all enjoy the pictures!
