Seems the F/A-18 has some brake problems
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0804FighterJetBrakes04-ON.html
The pilot that flew one of the F-14’s that shot down two Libyan Su-22’a in 1981was killed several years later when his F-18A lost brakes on landing. The aircraft left the runway and flipped over on its back, trapping CDR Kleeman in the cockpit. The aircraft started burning and fire crews were not able to save the pilot.
When the first Hornet squadrons went to the USS Midway, we had a lot of planing link failures. That complicated landing gear is a bear.[;)]
Eddie
Oops.
Bernie, we must be linked telepathically, because the first thing I thought of when I read this story was CDR Kleeman’s accident all those years ago. Anybody remember when he was killed? I believe it was in the late 1980s.
TOM
He was killed in 1987 at MCAS Yuna.
MAN, talk about a lil jam… Just to think, the part is only what about $530 or so. I’ll take 2 please…!!![;)] In all seriousness, hopefully the Boeing design team and the help from the Fleet can eliminate this problem ASAP.
Speaking of having problems… I remember my Dad talking about a problem with the tail hook on the F-8’s when they first came into the fleet.
When they were doing “Trap” test aboard a carrier, the tail hook would literally snap off.
He said with this happening, all flying was suspended until the problem could be fixed and Pax Riv was notified of the situation(since it was an Air Test Center).
Over a course of a weekend and pulling all nighters, they came up with a solution for the tail section. Between the wrenchers and a few Reps from Chance Vought, they were able to strenghten the inards in relative to where the tail hook assembly was located. The following week the tests resumed.
With the strengthing of the rear fuselage section, all “traping” test met Navy/Marine requirements.
From that point on, all remaing F-8s that rolled off Chance Voughts line had this modifaction done to them.
How do I know this?? me Father was there…
Flaps up, Mike
interesting article… hope they fix that quick. We don’t need any more of our servicemen dying, Iraq’s taken care of that…
Everything else being equal, I’d say the hook is a bigger problem. A functioning hook can (and, in my experience, HAS) make up for many a brake/tire/etc problem…
Hey Kolja94,
Yuppers you got it… Like you have mentioned, a tail hook situation tends to out weight the brake problem.
Just hope that it is an easy cheesey fix for Boeing!!
Flaps up, Mike
Believe it or not, Static electricity is a major cause of some of the Landing Gear System Failures.[:0] The Bug is made up of a lot of composites and I guess this contributes to the problem. When the Hornets landing gear is dropped into the airstream, sometimes there is enough static electricity to make the Landing Gear Control Unit to believe that one wheel is “turning” when, in fact, It is not. Most of the time this can be prevented with Preventive Maintence and proper maintence. I’ve seen where people just run a new wire to the Wheel Sensor instead of replacing the whole wheel well anti-skid cable. The cable is shielded from the factory and if the wire is replaced w/out this sheild then that is when the Anti-Skid problems crop up. The thing that gets me is these cables are very easy to replace, once one’s done a few![;)]
Hey Calvin,
Its funny to see how much the a/c costs compared to the part…!!! Do you feel its a $$ issue, the lack of proper maintence or a combination of both??
If its a relatively easy fix, why dont they just get it over with. I have a felling if this problem continous, you’ll see the Hornet grounded till this is fixed.
Just wondering, could the Superbug have this problem as well or is it to early to tell.
Flaps up, Mike
design, lack of care and attention durring maintanace/cost, all play a part.
Q. do you even use brakes on a hook landing? or does the CPU take over because of the cable fault and apply brakes to one side? If so, why the hell don’t they let the pilot decide on brakes, they pay him enough! and spend enough training him, I’m sure he’s smart enough to decide when brakes are needed and when!
I’m not entirely sure I understand your question, but I’ll take a whack at it.
On the boat, you don’t touch the brakes at all on the arrestment.
At the field, I suppose it would be possible, depending on the nature of the emergency. All my field arrestments were precautionary short-field arrestments with no braking to speak of done by the pilot. It’s also possible to take a long field arrestment too - say, after you land and realize your brakes aren’t going to stop the plane.
Wish everyone who did not understand the Q, still answered it correctly,TY
Vapochilled, a pilot will not touch the brakes in any way during a trap on a carrier. Now, during a field arrestment (taking a wire at an airfield for emergency/precautionary reasons), a pilot has no reason to touch the brakes until after they come to a complete stop, just like on a carrier. One difference between the carrier trap & field arrestment is the field arrestment is not nearly as hard on an a/c and,on the Hornet at least, his anti-skid system would normally be switched to the “ON” position.
As far as if the anti-skid system were to develop a fault (that sets a code that the system recognizes as a problem), say a anti-skid cable (it’s actually a shielded wire - not a physical metal link) breaks- the system would let the a/c’s avionics mux bus know, pop a number for that code and let the pilot know that he only has normal braking. I should not effect normal braking.
The anti skid system is a simple system. A pilot can have the brakes on when still airborn and nothing will happen. The wheel has to be spinning at a pre determined speed or RPM at which time the anti skid System will supply hydraulic pressure to the brakes. It will maintain pressure until the sensor detects a locked brake at which time it releases pressure. It can cycle several times a second. Air Force pilots are tought to keep constant pressure on the brakes until the anti skid system shuts off, at around forty knots. At that time he will have normal brakes. In case of an anti skid malfunction, the pilot will apply and release the brakes several times until he has slowed down. That is to prevent overheating of the brakes.
Usually when an aircraft has an anti skid problem, it usually results in hot brakes at the end of the roll out.
The old F-4 had problems with the anti skid harness early in its life. The way the problem was solved was to wrap a teflon coil around the harness. It worked and it wasn’t until the early 80’s that a new harness, shielded by teflon and a coiled steel spring was installed. That was the same time a new computerized anti skid system was installed on the aircraft. It didn’t work as well as the old system and could be effected by TACAN radio waves.