F/A-18F Super Hornet @ San Luis Obispo

Gordo

Gordo

Well-Known Member
A friend and I saw a hornet make a low pass then land at San Luis Obispo (KSBP) on Friday, so we hustled over to the airport and saw it on the ramp. It was there for an Agricultural Engines class. It was an F/A-18F from VFA-122 out of NAS LeMoore. The squadron transitions new pilots and legacy hornet pilots to the Super Hornet.
Anyway, made a call to the San Luis Jet Center and got out on the ramp to take a look.
Apparently the Captain's two sons were in the class and the Lieutenant's brother came out as well. Both pilots were former Cal Poly students too.

They made a full afterburner takeoff and rotated at about a thousand feet, then climbed straight out through the cloud deck at about 10000 ft. Pretty cool, up close airshow!
 

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I was able to marshal one onto our ramp. He actually followed my hand signals to. We even got to fuel him to.

Nice shots though, thanks for sharing.
 
Very cool.

Random SLO/SBP memories/thoughts and senior brain spasms:

Love Cal Poly
Love The Graduate (new wave night)
Burt Rutan's weird RC's.
"Rode" a T-34B -- two times ..A-6 type bombing run on Morro Rock
Buzzing Diablo Canyon
Riding Swift Aire's Heron's and Nord 262's
Losing two flight instructors
Losing a good friend off Cuesta Ridge
No tower
Severe turbulence on the lee side of Gaviota
Nicolaides
Aero much better than M.E.
Tractor pulls

Good memories,
Kenny
 
Pretty cool.....got my first ride in a Super in that exact jet back in '06. IIRC it is one of the more uncommon dual controlled birds.
 
Gordo said:
A friend and I saw a hornet make a low pass then land at San Luis Obispo (KSBP) on Friday, so we hustled over to the airport and saw it on the ramp. It was there for an Agricultural Engines class. It was an F/A-18F from VFA-122 out of NAS LeMoore. The squadron transitions new pilots and legacy hornet pilots to the Super Hornet.
Anyway, made a call to the San Luis Jet Center and got out on the ramp to take a look.
Apparently the Captain's two sons were in the class and the Lieutenant's brother came out as well. Both pilots were former Cal Poly students too.

They made a full afterburner takeoff and rotated at about a thousand feet, then climbed straight out through the cloud deck at about 10000 ft. Pretty cool, up close airshow!
Click to expand...

Just remember if they ask for help with charging the accumultor for the APU RUN...RUN...RUN... My arms are still sore....

Nice Pics
 
///AMG said:
Pretty cool.....got my first ride in a Super in that exact jet back in '06. IIRC it is one of the more uncommon dual controlled birds.
Click to expand...

Got my first ride as a mid in a TA-7C Corsair II when they were VA-122 out of Lemoore. Had two rides actually, 6.0 hours exactly. Good times :beer:
 
bunk22 said:
Got my first ride as a mid in a TA-7C Corsair II when they were VA-122 out of Lemoore. Had two rides actually, 6.0 hours exactly. Good times :beer:
Click to expand...
Can't have been *that* exciting of a ride if it lasted 3 hours. Based on the fuel that the SLUF carried, that sounds more like a cross-country to me.

If you were turning-and-burning, the duration would have been much shorter.
 
Rhinoflyer said:
They change them back and forth from WSO controls to Pilot controls in the backseat. I always hated being in the backseat without stick and throttles.
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I bet, that would make me uncomfortable too. Both times I flew in a T-bird, the IP was cool enough to let me have some stick time, which was about the coolest thing a middie could ever do IMHO. Hopefully someday I will have the chance to pay that forward....
 
MikeD said:
How? If you want to go to a Prowler? :)

Could take three of them with you, and none will get stick time ;)
Click to expand...

Haha good point. I was thinking more if I ended up Growler (I'd presume their FRS would have a couple jets with the same dual control capability as the Rhino FRS), or back to orange and whites someday
 
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