F-18 HORNET IN NASA

Four F/A-18 Hornet aircraft are being flown by NASA's Armstrong Flight Research
Center, Edwards, CA, for research support and pilot proficiency. The aircraft were
obtained from the U.S. Navy between 1984 and 1991. Two have a two-seat cockpit
while the others are single-seat aircraft. NASA research support aircraft are commonly
called chase planes and fill the role of escort aircraft during research missions.
Chase pilots are in constant radio contact with research pilots and serve as an "extra set
of eyes" to help maintain total flight safety during specific tests and maneuvers. They
monitor certain events for the research pilot and are an important safety feature on all
research missions.
Chase aircraft also are used as camera platforms for research missions that must be
photographed or videotaped. Pictorial coverage - photos, motion pictures, and videotape
- is used extensively by aeronautical engineers to monitor and verify various aspects of
the research project.
The two-seat F/A-18 support aircraft are normally used for photo or video chase. They
are configured to transmit live video pictures from the air back to Dryden so engineers
can visually monitor the mission as it is being flown. This feature greatly enhances
flight safety.
The F/A-18 fleet also is used by Armstrong research pilots for routine flight training
required by all NASA pilots.

In the mid to late 1980s, the Navy transferred eight F/A-18As and one F/A-
18B to NASA to be used by the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility for
chase and proficiency flying. They eventually replaced all of the F-104
Starfighters that had previously been operated by NASA. NASA has also used
its Hornets for a variety of research projects, the first of these being the High
Alpha program begun in 1987 to study airflow surrounding the aircraft in high
angle-of-attack attitudes.

In the 1990s, three more F/A-18s were transferred to NASA.

The Bureau of Aeronautics serials of the Hornets assigned to NASA were:

160780 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-2-MC Hornet
to NASA as 840 in 1985
160781 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18B-2-MC Hornet
to NASA as 845 in July 1986
161213 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-4-MC Hornet
to NASA as 844. Crashed 10/7/88
161214 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-4-MC Hornet
to NASA as 842 in August 1987
161216 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-4-MC Hornet
 to NASA as 841 in October 1985
161217 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18B-4-MC Hornet (Lot 3)
to NASA as 852.
161250 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-4-MC Hornet
to NASA as 843 in October 1987.
161355 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18B-5-MC Hornet (Lot 4)
161355 to NASA as 846.
161520 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-7-MC Hornet
to NASA as 847 in September 1989.
161703 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-8-MC Hornet (Lot 5)
to NASA as 850.
161949 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-12-MC Hornet
to NASA as 848 in December 1989.
161744 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-10-MC Hornet
to NASA 853
161705 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-8-MC Hornet
to NASA as 851

One of the F/A-18As (160780) was later converted into the HARV research
aircraft.

NASA's High Angle of Attack Research Vehicle (HARV) program involved

the use of a modified Hornet to explore the use of thrust vectoring in the high
angle of attack regime. The goal was to achieve better maneuverability in
conventional non-V/STOL aircraft, in the hope of giving aircraft designers a
better understanding of aerodynamics, flight controls, and airflow at high
angles of attack.

The HARV program was a joint effort between NASA's Dryden, Ames,
Langley, and Lewis research centers. The Navy loaned a YF-18A (BuNo
160780) to NASA for the tests. It had been serving with the Naval Air Test
Center at Patuxent River, Maryland, and had been in storage pending further
use. It arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility in September of
1985, and was assigned the NASA number of 840.

NASA 840 required 18 months of work to be refurbished. The HARV

program began in 1987 with an unmodified aircraft. 840 was finally fit with
thrust vectoring equipment in 1991. This consisted of a set of three spoon-
shaped paddle-like vanes fitted around each engine's exhaust to provide pitch
and yaw forces in those flight regimes where the conventional flight controls
tend to lose their effectiveness. In order to shorten the distance that the vanes
must be cantilevered, the external exhaust nozzles were removed. This makes
supersonic flight impossible, but does not have any effect on the subsonic
performance. The flight control computers had to be modified to
accommodate the vanes.

The aircraft is equipped with camera pods on the wingtips in lieu of the
Sidewinder missiles. These cameras are there to view streams of white smoke
that are emitted from the forward fuselage to give information about the
airflow patterns. In order to make the smoke trails stand out better, the upper
surfaces of the aircraft are painted matte black. In order to provide details
about on-surface flow patterns, a special red liquid can be emitted from
dozens of tiny holes in the aircraft's nose and filmed as it streams out over the
surface of the fuselage.

With the thrust-vectoring vanes, the F-18 HARV has achieved stable flight at
angles of attack as high as 70 degrees (previous maximum for conventional
F/A-18 was 55 degrees). High roll rates can be achieved at 65-degree angles
of attack, whereas controlled rolling was impossible above 40 degrees angle
of attack for a conventional F/A-18.