Glog

Hornets

Thought this was interseting:

Good photos of a pair of F-18 Hornets at Top Gun which had a mid-air
collision and then the pilots "John Wayned" them back to base. Anyone has
got to be NUTS to be a Naval Aviator. Hook down - hydraulics gone -
incredible... This truly is a miracle; two heavily damaged aircraft. The
pilots would have been justified in "punching out" but instead, they
chose to bring the jets in. This endangered their lives but saved the
taxpayers about 80 million dollars. What is especially intriguing is in picture
03, notice the radome, radar and all of the avionics equipment,
everything, in front is gone. This created several problems for the pilot:
aerodynamics, eventual loss of hydraulics due to loss of fluid, navigation,
and probably the most amazing, as the pieces fell away, some debris had to
be ingested by the engines (F.O.D.) and he still was able to bring it home!
The story behind them is: Two F/A-18 Hornets from Top Gun were
Dogfighting and made a head on pass, just a bit too close. One got home
with part of the left wing and left vertical fin and rudder missing, while
the other jet is missing everything forward of the cockpit pressure
bulkhead and is a flying convertible because the canopy is shattered too.
These guys are lucky. It shows how rugged these aircraft are...Also shows
how good our pilots are.