F/A-18 Down near Miramar, Pilot Dead

Sounds like it was an F-18D from VMFA-224 out of Beaufort SC. RIP.
 
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Old friend of mine used to fly Hornets in the Marines. He just punched out of an A-4 last month in Cherry Point. Gonna be a long road of recovery (broken back) for him. Flying fast jets is a very unforgiving job.

www.witn.com

Civilian pilot ejects after takeoff from Cherry Point

The Marine Corps says a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was taking off around 2:00 p.m. when the accident happened.
www.witn.com www.witn.com
 
Just East of the runway? 5 minutes before midnight? At the time the weather seemed to be 6-700 OVC, dark of course.
 

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sourdough44 said:
Just East of the runway? 5 minutes before midnight? At the time the weather seemed to be 6-700 OVC, dark of course.
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Could’ve changed but when I was in, Legacy Hornets didn’t have ILS capability. @35 AoA would know though. Generally if it’s bad wx at NKX they do the PAR. Not that it’s a sure fire way of preventing CFIT though. When I was there, a student final controller misidentified an F-18 and was actually looking at a P-3 doing a TACAN. Kept telling the F-18 he was “well above glide path and holding.” Popped out of the clouds about 2 miles out just above the hills east of Miramar. :oops:
 
Velocity173 said:
Could’ve changed but when I was in, Legacy Hornets didn’t have ILS capability. @35 AoA would know though. Generally if it’s bad wx at NKX they do the PAR. Not that it’s a sure fire way of preventing CFIT though. When I was there, a student final controller misidentified an F-18 and was actually looking at a P-3 doing a TACAN. Kept telling the F-18 he was “well above glide path and holding.” Popped out of the clouds about 2 miles out just above the hills east of Miramar. :oops:
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Looking at the terrain, CFIT is possible.
 
Velocity173 said:
Could’ve changed but when I was in, Legacy Hornets didn’t have ILS capability. @35 AoA would know though. Generally if it’s bad wx at NKX they do the PAR. Not that it’s a sure fire way of preventing CFIT though. When I was there, a student final controller misidentified an F-18 and was actually looking at a P-3 doing a TACAN. Kept telling the F-18 he was “well above glide path and holding.” Popped out of the clouds about 2 miles out just above the hills east of Miramar. :oops:
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Hornet not have ILS?????

Heck, even the 1950s T-37 had ILS.
 
Pinecone said:
Hornet not have ILS?????

Heck, even the 1950s T-37 had ILS.
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Yep. I remember @35 AoA saying it wasn’t until he went to the Super Hornet did he get an ILS. It’s my understanding, only the foreign countries ordered their Legacy Hornets with VOR / ILS capability.

I think a lot of the old Navy fighters didn’t have IlS. Pretty sure the Tomcat didn’t have it either. That why when you look at Navy / Marine bases, very few have an ILS. It’s all RNAV, TACAN and primary low weather recovery is still the old PAR.

Which brings up another question. If the aircraft was moded with an ILS, kinda wonder if it was monitored by GCA. When I was there, we were required to monitor all TACANs when the field was IFR. ILS came after I left but I would think the course is close enough to be monitored. Lotta questions but obviously not much to go on this early.
 
I thought carriers had ILS. Hmm.

But interesting.

In the USAF we were taught on a PAR to dial in the ILS and cross check to make sure the controller did not have a major malfunction.

EDIT carriers have ICLS which is basically an ILS. And now there is ACLS.
 
Pinecone said:
EDIT carriers have ICLS which is basically an ILS. And now there is ACLS.
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But neither ICLS nor ACLS, PALS, or whatever Navy acronym you choose are equivalent to or compatible with civilian ILSs.

Nauga,
bullseye
 
nauga said:
But neither ICLS nor ACLS, PALS, or whatever Navy acronym you choose are equivalent to or compatible with civilian ILSs.

Nauga,
bullseye
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No but they are linked to the boats movements and automatically deliver info that is corrected for the pitch and roll of the runway. A Navy unique issue the runway elevation and direction changing. :)
 
Velocity173 said:
Yep. I remember @35 AoA saying it wasn’t until he went to the Super Hornet did he get an ILS. It’s my understanding, only the foreign countries ordered their Legacy Hornets with VOR / ILS capability.

I think a lot of the old Navy fighters didn’t have IlS. Pretty sure the Tomcat didn’t have it either. That why when you look at Navy / Marine bases, very few have an ILS. It’s all RNAV, TACAN and primary low weather recovery is still the old PAR.

Which brings up another question. If the aircraft was moded with an ILS, kinda wonder if it was monitored by GCA. When I was there, we were required to monitor all TACANs when the field was IFR. ILS came after I left but I would think the course is close enough to be monitored. Lotta questions but obviously not much to go on this early.
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USN Super Hornets don't have civilian ILS either. I never "got it", but I have flown one expeditionary Growler that had the civvie box installed (I never figured out how to operate it). All exped Growler squadrons have civilian ILS though, to set the record straight.

For USN/USMC Hornet and SH, it is still PAR or TACAN, or since about 2017, SH has had RNAV LNAV MDA capes, hand flown only. Which doesn't buy anything over a PAR generally. Miramar is still certainly a PAR place, and from what I remember, it was a from above G/S intercept due to terrain to the east, which was always a little interesting.

This one sucks. I knew him when we were at VMFAT-101 as cat 1 students, think he was a couple classes behind me. Haven't seen him since then, but he was a good dude. Wife and 3 kids.
 
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