On 2/5/04 3:54 PM, in article , "Mr Smith"
wrote:


I contacted the seller, he states the aircraft is not
airworthy at this time and he's not the actual owner,
just brokering the sale. It would need to be "gone
over" before it can fly.

He also stated it has not been de-mil'd. Were F-18A's
in the Blue Angel's mission capable (outside their PR
role) ? I can't see how it would be legal to sell an
untouched, strike capable aircraft.

One would presume export control laws would apply if
a buyer in say, Iran, wanted to bid on it.

The Buy-It-Now price does seem rather low.

It might reflect a "I-need-to-get-rid-of-this-because
I-can't-insure-it" dilemma the owner has.

All the Hornet drivers here, if I'm a Citation X pilot
with 4500+ hrs, how difficult is landing a Hornet ?
I imagine the ONLY place one can acquire training on
them is in the Navy (Marines included).



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