dubd

I heard a rumor that the Blue Angels will have a new scheme with their upgrade to the Super Hornet. Anyone know if that's correct? If so, are there some concepts floating around?

FalconWings

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They are getting Super Hornys? That is one major upgrade! Specially if they get two seaters, that's a $120M/copy bird. Even F-35A is cheaper! :-)

JP-1

The Blue Angels Are Getting a Super Upgrade

Desertlakesflying

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I doubt the scheme will change much. Hard to change tradition in the Navy even though we have seen a tons of it the last few years so no one gets offended......

mr_matt

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I saw an image purported to be a Boeing press release image, showing the scheme but I did not see it on the Boeing site. It looks the same to me.

mr_matt

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Here it is no idea if it is real FWIW

mr_matt

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They say they are old ones that either have early avionics or early SW and can only be used for transition training. I think if the Navy could, they would stay with F-18 A/C, but no more parts.

rgburrill

Some Senators and Congressmen are getting palms greased for this one. The demo team aircraft are stripped down versions of the original aircraft to reduce the weight so they are much more maneuverable. Super Hornets will be too heavy and good pilots re going to get killed.

BarracudaHockey

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If they can fly their routine in F-4 Phantoms, I don't see why they can't fly it in Super Hornets.

I'm sure they will modify the routine for the aircraft they are flying to accentuate the strengths of the aircraft while staying out of the dead mans curve.

FalconWings

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Ehm...hold it there cowboy! Super Hornet has 25% larger surfaces, and 30% more thrust. The wing loading is similar to an A/B/C, with improved high Alpha performance. Add that you can still remove a lot of the non-essential LRU's. ......no, no one is going to get killed due to lack of performance.

TBird F-16s are not stripped down at all. They merely remove the empty Ammo Drum, and replace with a smoke fluid tank + tubing. They keep everything else intact.

David

gunradd

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Not to mention they have had a few crashes and if I remember right their was issues with fatigue on something with the ailerons.

You can't fly planes forever. They must be replaced every now and then. Saying the super hornet can't hold up to what a c model does is crazy and miss informed.

Desertlakesflying

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As a former F/A-18C mechanic VFA-113, with extensive knowledge of the Rino, your comment is completely false on every count.

I even worked on one that lost a fuel pump on the way to a show right before I left the Navy. They are not just stripped down versions. Other than pylons and armament everything was still there. There was very little difference between my Seagoing Hornets and theirs other than theirs were A models and ours were C models, and theirs were much dirtier inside, a lot of the fasteners were almost stripped, and the workmanship of the mechanics was shoddy at best.

This has been in the works for years so politicians getting greased is also a misnomer.

VFA-113 PowerPlants Aviation Machinists Mate.

Doug Cronkhite

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The current F/A-18A & C models they're flying now are WELL past their standard service life. They had A LOT of reliability issues this year in winter training causing them to use spares on a daily basis. The older hornets simply can't fly forever. As with their current aircraft, the Super Hornets they'll get will be earlier block airplanes.. They're aren't 'stripped down' at all except to remove the gun, and replace it with a smoke tank, and adding a stiffer spring on the control stick to give them the down trim pressure they use for formation flying..