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USS Abraham Lincoln Tiger Cruise 2011

Out of curiosity, what exactly is this?

CVN72-D7_F-18C_Hornet_1775.jpg
 
That, Toaster, is an airplane.

More specifically and less sarcastically it's a Charlie model Hornet going into burner at the end of a cat stroke. After watching a week of CQing, I'm pretty sure it's standard for them to into burner as they get shot, but a driver please correct me if I'm mistaken.
 
Morgan81 said:
That, Toaster, is an airplane.

More specifically and less sarcastically it's a Charlie model Hornet going into burner at the end of a cat stroke. After watching a week of CQing, I'm pretty sure it's standard for them to into burner as they get shot, but a driver please correct me if I'm mistaken.
Click to expand...

Really? ;)

I was aware they use burner, but at no point prior did I recall seeing a giant ball of flame coming out the back. After posting, a quick Google search of F-18 and "flame" turned up some similar pictures with the explanation being "compressor stall due to hot air from the catapult"?

100803-N-6362C-296.jpg


100804-N-6362C-229.jpg


IMG_2917_wm.jpg
 
This may be covered in another thread, but I believe I heard today (on the radio) that an engine blew on a Navy F-18 on a carrier off the Pacific coast and that 4 men/people were injured. Anyone else have more facts on this??
 
Fog said:
This may be covered in another thread, but I believe I heard today (on the radio) that an engine blew on a Navy F-18 on a carrier off the Pacific coast and that 4 men/people were injured. Anyone else have more facts on this??
Click to expand...

Hope everyone is alright. I literally just posted a video over in the pic thread of a hornet ingesting some FOD. I could definitely see that getting dangerous in a hurry.
 
Flying Toaster said:
I was aware they use burner, but at no point prior did I recall seeing a giant ball of flame coming out the back. After posting, a quick Google search of F-18 and "flame" turned up some similar pictures with the explanation being "compressor stall due to hot air from the catapult"?
Click to expand...

Quick Enginerd Question: Isn't compressor stall a bad thing? Whenever my engineering professors mentioned compressor stall, it was usually in the context of horrible, catastrophic, imminent crash-type scenarios. So, is a small amount of compressor stall during flight a normal thing? If so, do you see any variance in power/thrust produced by the engine(s) or is it negligible?

Sorry to bore those who care not about such nerdy topics. :)
 
CLH: Thanks. Obviously, I had the facts & timeline a little fubared and appreciate your clearing it up.
 
AllAmerican75 said:
Quick Enginerd Question: Isn't compressor stall a bad thing? Whenever my engineering professors mentioned compressor stall, it was usually in the context of horrible, catastrophic, imminent crash-type scenarios. So, is a small amount of compressor stall during flight a normal thing? If so, do you see any variance in power/thrust produced by the engine(s) or is it negligible?

Sorry to bore those who care not about such nerdy topics. :)
Click to expand...


Short answer: Yes- anything from mild and negligible through all of the above.
 
Fog said:
This may be covered in another thread, but I believe I heard today (on the radio) that an engine blew on a Navy F-18 on a carrier off the Pacific coast and that 4 men/people were injured. Anyone else have more facts on this??
Click to expand...

Shitty week for Navy/Marine Aviation as a whole. OP tempo is high, try not to empty your luck bucket all in one shot gents.
 
That is correct. While going to burner isn't always required, it's usually done just to make sure. I've seen large bursts of flames like that a few times. As long as it isn't a major compressor stall, then it's not a big deal.
 
AllAmerican75 said:
Quick Enginerd Question: Isn't compressor stall a bad thing? Whenever my engineering professors mentioned compressor stall, it was usually in the context of horrible, catastrophic, imminent crash-type scenarios. So, is a small amount of compressor stall during flight a normal thing? If so, do you see any variance in power/thrust produced by the engine(s) or is it negligible?

Sorry to bore those who care not about such nerdy topics. :)
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call it "normal," but there are usually procedures in place to deal with it. In my short experience (T-34, T-39, T-45, EA-6), usually some form of retarding throttle to reduce fuel flow and thus burner pressure, which should restore proper airflow through the motor. Then slowly readvance whilst monitoring engine temps. If all else fails, shut down the motor (and promptly relight if it's your only one).

Keep in mind chugs/bangs/stalls can be caused by many things. Common to civvies and us are FOD and turbulence. But anything which disrupts the airflow through the inlet will do it. Things which will do that that civilians don't usually worry about are catapult steam (air density changes), hard maneuvering (intake can't keep up at high AOA in some jets) or departures/spins (airflow comes from all sorts of crazy directions and airframe tends to blank out intakes). The T-45 motor is notoriously finicky and has a steam ingestion valve which opens under an inordinately complicated series of events to unload the compressor when on the cat (F405 doesn't like steam). As I recall, that jet is fairly stall prone in ACM as well, and tends to snuff motors if you're unfortunate enough to spin it.
 
Tomcat used to do something similar on blower shots, the overflow/vent tank in the ass end would spit some fuel out on the cat stroke, it would light right towards the end as the fuel sloshed/spewed etc... speculating, but Hornet may do the same thing. I am pretty sure that with all the photos above, that it wasn't a traditional "compressor stall", with the variable inlet guide vanes the lawn dart motors have (sweet!), they seem pretty damned reliable (only compressor stalls I saw/heard were the Connie cat track cover injestion)...
 
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