Australia requests authority to purchase 24 more Super Hornets

[Brett327]

BZB, that was my point exactly.

Brett, engine out performance is a contingency that should (hopefully) be considered. I never dismissed the platform just said I wished it had two engines. I'll fly it and love it if the time comes. I don't have to have first hand experience flying a JSF to know that I prefer 2 engines to one. I've flown both a 2 engine and single engine A/C at the boat. I will always prefer 2.

Fine, but you're missing my point.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Agreed pilot_man. Don't think that one-eyed jack will work out too well when I come aboard single oops I mean zero engine. Yep! ZERO time and hopefully it stays that way.

Just gonna throw it out here, but I'm guessing "Corsair" probably has some single engine (not by shutting one down) time at the boat.

 

[zippy]

This single engine phobia reminds me of a transitioning P-3 type, freakin' out because his new ride P-8... has ONLY 2 engines!
BzB

They're obviously an idiot- the single engine P-8 climb performance to altitude is better then a P-3 on four engines. With the rate the P-3s lost engines, I was certainly glad I had multiple when flying out open ocean. Can't really blame people who are used to having multiple engines feeling uneasy with the idea of flying single engine over water.

 

[zipmartin]

All of this back and forth banter reminds me of a guy who was a department head in my first fleet tour in A-7's. He'd originally flown Vigi's, got out and spent time at Delta, came back in and was reassigned to A-7's and was a RAG instructor when I first met him. When we were getting ready to go to the boat for the first time in the A-7, he was telling us about how he'd always heard people complaining about single engine this and single engine that, losing an engine at inopportune times, etc. His theory was why worry about it. It's very simple, he would say. No procedures to worry about. If you lose one . . . your ONLY one . . . you just punch out. Problem solved.

 

[C420sailor]

I wonder what AV-8B pilots think about this whole single engine thing...

 

[Harrier Dude]

I wonder what AV-8B pilots think about this whole single engine thing...

We would rather have another one. That's not really debatable. What is debatable is whether or not the mission can be safely accomplished over thousands of sorties with just one and whether the total cost of adding another engine is worth it.

Will there be engine failures? Yes. When they fail it will be catastrophic for that aircraft.

Will the amount of money saved by adding another engine be greater than the expense of adding another engine? Evidently not, but I may be overestimating the amount of critical thought put into it by LM and DoD.

The fact at this point is that it is, and is going to be, a single engine aircraft. This is not unprecedented, and is not the death knell of naval aviation. It's been done many thousands of times in many different aircraft. There were crashes, and there have been improvements. Only time will tell where this ends up.

 

[MasterBates]

I'm a lot happier having something with one engine, when I have a seat that goes BOOM and the "Easy Button" for egress.

 

[PropAddict]

It's very simple, he would say. No procedures to worry about. If you lose one . . . your ONLY one . . . you just punch out. Problem solved.

Truth. In Propville, we spend an inordinate amount of time wanking over engine-loss contingencies and decision-making scenarios. I actually heard a pilot training officer lamenting that it all goes away with P-8, since your 3710 options dry up when you're single engine.

Face, meet palm.

 

[scoolbubba]

Haha, does he happen to work at VP-30 now?

 

[Jim123]

/threadjack

Shouldn't the FRS be renamed VP-80?

You heard it here first, folks!

 

[statesman]

This single engine phobia reminds me of a transitioning P-3 type, freakin' out because his new ride P-8... has ONLY 2 engines!
BzB

I don't know anyone who is upset the P-8 had half the engines. This community is very aware that the CFMs have a 0.0000001% fail rate, and no pilot I know has ever looked back after they flew the P-8, even with a 24k derate take off.

 

[statesman]

Truth. In Propville, we spend an inordinate amount of time wanking over engine-loss contingencies and decision-making scenarios. I actually heard a pilot training officer lamenting that it all goes away with P-8, since your 3710 options dry up when you're single engine.

Face, meet palm.

They are having to beat the P-3 out of some people, but generally the P-8 side is 10x better. Those that attempt to hold onto the P-3 way of thinking are doomed, honestly there is too much to know that's not P-3 bullshit to focus on that old way of thinking.

 

[PropAddict]

/threadjack

Shouldn't the FRS be renamed VP-80?

You heard it here first, folks!

No shit, VX-20 briefed the community folks that the training syllabus and flying mentality of the P-8 were so different from the P-3 that the FRS would be best served by ensuring the P-8 track was as far away from legacy P-3 guys as possible. VP-80 was recommended by name.

VP-30 said, "Thanks, guys. We've got it from here." And promptly ignored the recommendations.

 

[statesman]

You can tell VP-30 has tried to get their claws into it, but thankfully P-8 is almost its own separate squadron. It has a building across the street, a strong cadre of instructors who don't P-3 everything. Also a plus is the fact that they have brought a lot of comair 737 guys and C-40 guys over to help, and they don't give a flying fuck about minutia.

 

[jollygreen07]

I don't know anyone who is upset the P-8 had half the engines. This community is very aware that the CFMs have a 0.0000001% fail rate

Meh... They fail more often than that, but we have engines that have 20k+ hours on them. It's an awesome piece of machinery.