Easy question for people in the know about F/A-18s.

[darrylcn]

probably because nobody in the history of the Hornet has ever used it for any purpose.

And that explains why I've been searching so long for a definitive answer. It's not in the (probably heavily cut down) Legacy NATOPS I downloaded either as far as I could find. Stupid thing's in nearly every good Hornet video, and I can't stop watching THOSE, so it's a bit of a conundrum.

 

[xj220]

I don't know if there is such a thing for our B737 HUD. I flew the sim twice before I noticed a bunch of info at the bottom of the HUD display that I wasn't seeing because I was sitting too low. To see everything I have to sit higher than I like.

There isn't, it's kind of a pain in the ass to line up that HUD correctly. Any movement of your head and you're bound to lose info. I still prefer it over not having one. The T-38 HUD is the worst though.

 

[wlawr005]

Even if you did use a broken HUD to designate a target, it would only be possible because your eyeball was looking through the HUD in a very precise position...placed there by proper seat height. You would never designate a target that far up and to the right in the HUD, the target would be somewhere in the center of the HUD anyway. Additionally, if your HUD was broken, there would be a lot of other information missing that would make that kind of bombing impossible, even if you could designate a target.

Again, whether you use the HUD to designate a target, fly a precision approach, or whatever...that little crosshair just tells you where to put your seat so your eyeball looks directly through the center of the HUD field of view...which isn't that important in the first place.

Considering no would ever designate a target that way, it doesn't really matter what it's for.

 

[Farva01]

Even if you did use a broken HUD to designate a target, it would only be possible because your eyeball was looking through the HUD in a very precise position...placed there by proper seat height. You would never designate a target that far up and to the right in the HUD, the target would be somewhere in the center of the HUD anyway. Additionally, if your HUD was broken, there would be a lot of other information missing that would make that kind of bombing impossible, even if you could designate a target.

Again, whether you use the HUD to designate a target, fly a precision approach, or whatever...that little crosshair just tells you where to put your seat so your eyeball looks directly through the center of the HUD field of view...which isn't that important in the first place.

Considering no would ever designate a target that way, it doesn't really matter what it's for.

Considering the fact that when you line up the crosshair and the dot it lines up with the dot in the velocity vector (where your designation would be, oh my) it would not be up and to the right.
Second if you have your HUD display up on a DDI all that "information" would be available but all you really need is your ASL, and you don't even really need that. Which is exactly what happened to me on my Level III check ride.
Third, since the HUD and auto bombing came from the A-7, I would further conjecture that it is a holdover from that platform so they had a in case of war contingency. How is that spin recovery switch working for you in the rhino?

 

[wlawr005]

I don't know how you'd line up that VV with the crosshair in the upper right corner...but I'll push the I believe button.

Serious question, if you're bombing from the DDI how do you know the diamond is on the target?

I also do not know how anything works in a Rhino.

 

[BigJeffray]

I don't know how you'd line up that VV with the crosshair in the upper right corner...but I'll push the I believe button.

Serious question, if you're bombing from the DDI how do you know the diamond is on the target?

I also do not know how anything works in a Rhino.

FLIR Designation

 

[johnson42]

Even if you did use a broken HUD to designate a target, it would only be possible because your eyeball was looking through the HUD in a very precise position...placed there by proper seat height. You would never designate a target that far up and to the right in the HUD, the target would be somewhere in the center of the HUD anyway. Additionally, if your HUD was broken, there would be a lot of other information missing that would make that kind of bombing impossible, even if you could designate a target.

Again, whether you use the HUD to designate a target, fly a precision approach, or whatever...that little crosshair just tells you where to put your seat so your eyeball looks directly through the center of the HUD field of view...which isn't that important in the first place.

Considering no would ever designate a target that way, it doesn't really matter what it's for.

You're going to feel foolish about trying to make other people seem stupid when you look this up and realize that it IS for designating.

With a hud failure, you would roll in and line up the target with the crosshairs/dot on the other piece of glass. The mission computer then calculates the offset from the crosshairs/dot and you can use the a DDI to fly the velocity vector onto the ASL. You won't know for sure that you're diamond is on the target, but once you have designated with the target lined up with the crosshairs/dot (like looking through a scope) you can assume that your diamond is on the target. This is obviously in an extreme case dropping a gp bomb. The good thing about the crosshairs/dot method is that your seat height actually doesn't matter, unlike what you said. It doesn't matter how high or low you are sitting when you look through a scope (crosshairs/dot). lining them up can be done from any height. You would be right if there were only the crosshairs. Then your head position would be crucial.

 

[Farva01]

I don't know how you'd line up that VV with the crosshair in the upper right corner...but I'll push the I believe button.

Serious question, if you're bombing from the DDI how do you know the diamond is on the target?

I also do not know how anything works in a Rhino.

Because you just designated it from your HUD...

There is a reason no one does this anymore because we don't need to thanks to the miracle of targeting pods. But guys as recently as 2003 during OIF were using their HUDs to designate a target because the Nitehawk is a piece of junk. In 1980 all they had was their HUD and it was probably close enough for the unguided MK-84 they were dropping. Close enough is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades and 2000 lb bombs.
Next time you are sitting in the jet line up the crosshairs with the dot on the far piece of glass ( you can see it in the picture) and see where they coincide. During my many boring times sitting in the hot pits, alerts or TTLR they line up with the HUD. Also bit the ICS, you will hear noises you haven't before.
My point with the spin recovery switch is that it does not do anything in the rhino (other than move the LEF so the AT's can work on the RWR). It is only there because it was in the legacy hornet.

 

[Brett327]

You're going to feel foolish about trying to make other people seem stupid...

Don't worry, it's not his first time.

 

[wlawr005]

Don't worry, it's not his first time.

Awww Brett..that hurts. You know I'm trying to win the internetz.

 

[Brett327]

You just need your ass kicked a few more times before the lesson sinks in. You'll be fine.

 

[MIDNJAC]

You're going to feel foolish about trying to make other people seem stupid when you look this up and realize that it IS for designating.

With a hud failure, you would roll in and line up the target with the crosshairs/dot on the other piece of glass. The mission computer then calculates the offset from the crosshairs/dot and you can use the a DDI to fly the velocity vector onto the ASL. You won't know for sure that you're diamond is on the target, but once you have designated with the target lined up with the crosshairs/dot (like looking through a scope) you can assume that your diamond is on the target. This is obviously in an extreme case dropping a gp bomb. The good thing about the crosshairs/dot method is that your seat height actually doesn't matter, unlike what you said. It doesn't matter how high or low you are sitting when you look through a scope (crosshairs/dot). lining them up can be done from any height. You would be right if there were only the crosshairs. Then your head position would be crucial.

cool story. any other irrelevant minutia that you have found in a web copy of the NATOPS manual that you care to share with the rest of us?

 

[Treetop Flyer]

cool story. any other irrelevant minutia that you have found in a web copy of the NATOPS manual that you care to share with the rest of us?

Well to be fair, he was (apparently correctly) answering a question asked by another hobbyist that most of you hornet dudes had no clue about. No reason to get panties twisted over it.

 

[wlawr005]

Well to be fair, he was (apparently correctly) answering a question...

I don't know man...I've looked and I can't find the answer in any literature, classified or unclassified about this magical designation method.

If that really is what it's for, then it's even more useless than as a seat height marker.

I'm just going to keep ignoring it and hoping for the same average-to-slightly below average success I've enjoyed up to this point without it.

 

[BigJeffray]

I don't know man...I've looked and I can't find the answer in any literature, classified or unclassified about this magical designation method.

If that really is what it's for, then it's even more useless than as a seat height marker.

I'm just going to keep ignoring it and hoping for the same average-to-slightly below average success I've enjoyed up to this point without it.

I've seen it before and for the life of me I can't remember where. I remember thinking "That's a dumb idea that I'll never use," so I didn't spend much time reading about it. I'm curious where I found it though so I may look it up again (no promises there).