A visit to Boeing's Super Hornet plant... and full-dome sim

Earlier today, a group of reporters including myself visited\nBoeing's Saint Louis, Mo., plant where they build the F/A-18E/F, EA-18G and the\nF-15. Amid the briefings, Boeing afforded us the chance to assemble an inert\nLaser Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)--which was kinda cool. But the real\nhighlight of the tour for me was an opportunity to fly Boeing full-domed\nsimulator for the F/A-18F Block II and a tour of the advanced capabilities\nlabs. But alas, they didn't allow us to take photos...

The simulator was in a word: awesome. Our host was Boeing's\nchief test pilot for the Super Hornet, Ricardo Traven--a veteran of the Canadian\nForces with more than 3000 hours in the E/F versions alone. Once again I found\nmyself in awe of the Super Hornet's handling characteristics, which are simply\nmagnificent. The jet is quick and responsive and I performed feats such as a\ntail slide with ease. But Traven also taught me how to perform a high angle-of-attack\nmaneuver called a \"pirouette.\" Basically, slow the jet down, put in a good\namount of AOA, say about 42 degrees or so in this case. Then, step on the\nrudder and input full lateral stick and the jet will kind of do a 180-degree\nturn around its Z-axis. I did that a couple of times.

We also did some carrier landings... Initially, the Boeing\nguys want me to use the auto-throttles, but I declined. (It's just not natural\nto me to not be able to control the throttle settings) Anyways, on my first\ntry, my approach was good and I set the jet down smoothly on the deck, but as I\npushed the throttles into full blower, the hook didn't catch a \"cross deck\npendant\". So it was a bolter.... On my second attempt, I made it no problem. Not\nsure what my grade was, but I'm willing to bet it was the three-wire.

Incidentally, no one else made a trap, though John came\nclose... (but with auto-throttles-if memory serves). I did screw up one thing\nthough; I accidentally shot down my wingman when I mistook him (or her... It's a\ncomputer simulator--so it?) for a bandit... Oh well, sacrifices have to be made.

Anyways, the Super Hornet and Lockheed's F-35 are often\nmaligned on their performance--particularly since both aircraft top out short of\nMach 2.

But with the notable exception of the F-22 Raptor, modern\nfighters seldom achieve speeds above Mach 1.5 during an operational sortie.\nIt's very difficult, consumes time and more importantly gas to achieve those\nspeeds, especially when encumbered with weapons and fuel tanks as\nfourth-generation machines inevitably are in any combat configuration. Navy\npilots will tell you that the Super Hornet's performance is more than\nsufficient.

But one area where the Super Hornet is somewhat lacking is\ntransonic acceleration. With the new enhanced engines which produce more than\n20% more thrust than the existing power-plants being developed by General\nElectric, that could change. Mark Gammon, Boeing senior manager for F/A-18\nadvanced capabilities, says that under certain flight conditions, acceleration\ntimes are reduced by a factor of four. The engines are also more fuel-efficient\nand durable than the existing F414 variants.

Should the Navy buy the new engine, the existing Super\nHornet inlet has a 10% margin for increased mass-flow, so it could be\nretrofitted to the existing fleet with ease, Gammon says.