Does the navy use them. I’ve looked through hundreds of pictures and haven’t been able to find very many around.
Anybody have pictures/stories?
Thanks in advance
YEs they do.
F-18 Hornet Look close underneath you will see a couple.
F/A-18F Super Hornet Behind the wheel
Another Super Under the exhaust
F-4S Phantom
As you can see from the above pics, Yes we most definately use them. Especially if something has a safety pin. Typically, the landing gear (the two mains & nose), Tailhook, Wingfold (on the Legacy Hornets A-D), one for the Canopy Eject Handle (left forward cockpit near the windscreen), one for the seat (middle front of seat near the pull ring). Sometimes there is one on the Stick Cover if the bird is armed and if there is any work being performed on the a/c, the support equipment might have one. I.E. speed brack lock or AIM-9 test set on the LAU. These are examples for the Hornets of course, someone who knows the other Navy planes as well may chime in. Hope this helps though.[:D] - Calvin
Oh, yeah. Almost forgot! There is supposedly a nose wheel steering safety pin. However, in my 4 years of working on Hornets, I have yet to actually see one![:p]
I’d imagine you haven’t seen photographs because when Navy birds are on deck, they are getting ready to take off. Am I correct in my assumption, Navy guys? And since most pictures are taken on deck, they flags are removed. Hey if i’m wrong tell me!
You got me thinking. I have some photos of A/C on deck . The photos that I took of them were mostly on the move. The tags on the ones spotted on deck are hard to see and some times out of view. Here’s one being removed.
Eddie
There are some safety pins that are not removed until the air crew arrive at the aircraft. Many are removed just prior to the crew arriving.
Weapon safety pins are removed after taxi by the arm crews. After landing they reinstall the weapon safety pins.
On the F-4 series of aircraft there is a safety pin in the nose wheel well, right side that is removed only in combat areas. During peace time the pin is installed and safety wired in.
At George AFB, CA, just before I retired, our sister unit (21 AMU) had an aircraft that the young crew chief removed the safety pin because he didn’t know what it was for. The first time the rear bucket (bottom part of the seat) was removed and power was applied to the aircraft, every classified black box in the aircraft fried. All black boxes were replaced and when power was applied again to check out the system, it fried them again. The aircraft was down for over two weeks while the system was checked. At a wing commander briefing that I attended, the problem was discussed. I asked if the safety pin was still installed and every one looked at me like I was crazy. I explained that the safety pin was to prevent the system from frying when the seats were removed from the aircraft. In case of an ejection, a switch is activated and all power is directed to the black boxes to fry them. It melts circuit boards and circuits. There would be no way anyone would be able to get any use out of the classified equipment in the aircraft.