Hot seat

A short distance from the impressive line of Hornets on the tarmac, a tall, non-descript building sits anonymously. Yet within its walls sits two very advanced flight simulators, facilitating the training of the next generation of Hornet pilots and maintaining the standards of those already operational. Upstairs sits the instructor’s station and all manner of whirring computers with technicians on hand to upload flight profiles and missions as required. Today’s flight profile will be a combination of air-to-air combat, a bombing run and laser bomb sortie before returning to the circuit.

The instructor’s station comprises eight large screens, each offering a wealth of information ranging from the pilot’s flight display, head up display (HUD), armament status and position overlaid onto a real-world presentation which aids greatly in situational awareness. There are also two cameras in the simulator cockpit that allow the instructor to monitor the pilots eye-scan and control inputs. As I am soon to learn, anything that can aid the pilot’s appreciation of where he is and where he will be very shortly, is a marvellous asset. Ray points out the various screens and their broad range of features at an incredible rate that reflects the depth of knowledge needed to operate a Hornet. He also highlights the datalink system that allows information to be digitally transferred between the aircraft in flight. Fuel, armament and altitude and speed are just an example of the information that a ‘leader’ can access in a moment. Furthermore, it significantly reduces the need for radio chatter, making communications less intensive in critical phases and IFR flight.

An intensive workspace.

Ray and I descend the metal staircase, complete some further paperwork and enter the room housing the simulator. It differs greatly from the enclosed white boxes of civilian airline simulators, lurching on their insect-like hydraulic legs. The Hornet simulator sits low to the ground, requiring only a step or two up to enter it. It is also very open with the ‘visuals’ wrapping right around the pilot, even to the extent that there is the projection of his twin-fins on a screen behind him.

This wrap-around setting is achieved by a series of angular screens radiating from a central pentagonal screen in front of the pilot. It all seems very futuristic, but still relatively simple at a distance. The reason is because this simulator does not possess any ‘motion’, for it is not possible to engineer the gut-wrenching blood-draining physical impact of an 8G turn. Those physical demands are provided by the aircraft or a centrifuge. At this point I would like to reinforce that my previous use of the word ‘simple’ was accompanied by the words ‘relatively’ and ‘at a distance’.

Ray shows me the small kit bag and knee-pad that is standard for both flight and simulator missions. On these charts and notepads are an immense amount of data relating to the equipage of the aircraft, the planned sortie, the airspace to be utilised, any limiting parameters, communications data, navigational charts, individual roles in air to air scenarios. The list seems endless and then I am further taken aback when Ray informs me that the greater majority of the content is S.O.P. – or Standard Operating Procedure. This material is committed to memory and executed by the pilots unless briefed otherwise. It’s an amazing amount of information and further reinforces why thorough briefings are particularly critical in this type of operation. By this stage my head is spinning and I haven’t even strapped in.

The moment of truth is rapidly approaching and I take the two small steps up and the big one down into the Hornet simulator. My first impressions are of daunting complexity in every direction as I lower myself into the ejection seat and begin to adjust its position and my harnesses. Slowly, I begin to recognise certain components from their logical location and ergonomic design. Gear, flaps, throttles, communications, Head-Up-Display. However, I soon also become aware that even many of the ‘conventional’ controls have additional buttons or toggle switches on them to provide the pilot with various systems close at hand. There is also an array of emergency levers, hashed in yellow and black, such as the emergency release for ordinance.

Between my legs the control column rises from the floor and has a swathe of switches, triggers and buttons atop its bulbous handgrip. This is known as Hands on Throttle and Stick or HOTAS. The switches are designed this way as they would be inaccessible if placed anywhere else when pulling high G forces. This is a very solid component, serving numerous purposes and once again the pilot needs to know every function by feel and by heart.

Ahead, three glass screens fill the flight panel and provide everything from weapons selection and radar detection of foe, to the grainy green real- time footage of the targeting pod, that has a camera that tracks and designates a target to guide a weapon to. The lower central screen provides the ‘moving map’ while above it sits communication units (Up Front Control), topped by a Head-Up-Display. Landing gear lever, flaps and throttles file down the left hand side of the cockpit, while the right is equally congested with a range of selectors. This is one intensive workspace.

In the hot seat.

I’m now settled in the seat and Ray assists me with fitting one of the new generation helmets. It is known as the Joint Helmet Mounted Cuing System or JHMCS, pronounced “JeHemicks” by the pilots. Some of this helmet’s functionality is classified, so I am only able to see the most straightforward data it offers. That being said, this helmet has its own Head-Up-Display projected onto the visor allowing me to look in any direction and still receive critical flight information that is normally only available straight ahead. These helmets also possess the ability to target an enemy in the air or on the ground by looking at them and cuing weapons without necessarily pointing the aircraft straight at them.

It is an amazing piece of equipment that extends the rim of the helmet further forward of the pilot’s forehead, giving it a distinctly different shape. I’m instructed to close one eye and look at the far end of the runway and depress the trigger in order to set the HUD to my personal setting. I am all out of excuses, so it’s time to fly.

Ray is perched beside the cockpit and runs through the critical speeds. Reject 135kt. Rotate 155 kt. Wheels off at 170kt . The speeds strike me as not too dissimilar to a Boeing 737 as I open the throttles and push through the gate to engage the afterburner. The speeds may be similar, but we achieve them a LOT quicker in a Hornet.

Before I know it I’m rotating to eight degrees nose up, raising the gear and retracting the flap. All clean, we pull up to 40 degrees and the vertical speed is showing 15,000 feet per minute as Williamtown and planet earth disappear behind me. This is incredible.

“We pull up to 40 degrees and the vertical speed is showing 15,000ft per minute as planet Earth disappears behind me.”

My eyes are hunting to get the information I need from the HUD as the symbology scrolls up and down and arrows point left and right. We fly a series of turns, climbs and descents and I am overwhelmed by the lightness of the controls. My airline heritage shows through as I endeavour to smoothly guide the Hornet and roll out of turns with gentle anticipation. Ray reminds me that this is a fighter jet and to put the aircraft where I want it. Roll it briskly towards the new heading and then roll out with equal vigour. I start to get the hang of it and the fun factor steps up another notch.

To fly a modern fighter is a complex task where acute manipulative skills meet a maze of systems management beyond the sound barrier.

Friend or foe.

Ray assists me with the systems and weapons selection as we acquire two targets closing at high speed, head-on and destined to pass down our right hand side. The green vector in the HUD points to the target and I visually acquire the screaming dot ahead. I aggressively roll the aircraft and pitch down towards the target, which is a lot easier to do when you aren’t sustaining massive G-forces. I roll in behind the target that conveniently doesn’t try to evade me and I squeeze the trigger before he erupts in a ball of flame.

We turn back towards the other target that is now well below us and again we take chase. This time we select an air-to-air missile using the HOTAS and the selection is confirmed on the top left screen, then I wait until I have the target in my sights. Again, this enemy plays the game for me as I send a missile spearing towards him and he meets his demise. At this point, there are no G-forces and it is a straightforward training exercise against a co-operative enemy, but I can still feel my adrenalin rising.

Next we fly north at altitude to a simulated remote city of streets, low buildings and a network of roads. We change to air to ground mode by pushing one button and go to that top left screen again and select a bomb this time before pitching the Hornet 30 degrees nose down, diving at speed towards the target. In the HUD the time to target counts down before I pickle the red button and bug out off the coast while the explosion takes place behind me. Over the water I fly low level at over 600 knots and the ‘ground rush’ is incredible and I wonder what it would be like for real.

I then turn back towards the city, which is growing very quickly in the HUD ahead. On Ray’s cue I break right, pitch up to 15 degrees before rolling back towards the target at 10 degrees nose down. This manoeuvre is designed to take the defensive positions by surprise and keep them guessing, but I admit that it had a similar effect on me as I released the bombs, totally consumed by target fascination.

Our final task is to release a laser-guided bomb. With a small ‘mouse-like switch’ near the throttles, I move the cursor to target the building displayed in the familiar grainy green infra-red on the top left screen. I am flying at 15,000ft and once again the time to target counts down in the HUD. On the mark I pickle the release and get out of there as fast as I can, but even as I do so, the grainy green image continues to track and film the target as it guides the weapon. Like a scene on CNN from the Gulf War, I watch the dot erupt on impact and the target is no more. It’s an almost surreal moment interrupted as Ray checks my situational awareness by asking where I am now in relation to the target. It emphasises to me that the level of vigilance can never be relaxed in these situations.

“Like a scene on CNN from the Gulf War, I watch the dot erupt on impact and the target is no more.”

I commented on a feeling of asymmetry in the controls and Ray explains that the ordinance has been deployed from one side of the Hornet causing this situation. He reaches across and jettisons the remaining weaponry and the aircraft seems to grow extra speed and again feels balanced. Now flying clean we head back to Williamtown and join the circuit.

By this stage I am getting a better handle on the HUD symbology and a basic feel for the aeroplane, which now responds a little differently without the external ordinance hanging from its wings. We fly a series of circuits, the first one fairly wide and the subsequent tighter and more true to life. Ray prompts me what speeds I am looking for and when to lower the gear and flap initially and I am tentatively gaining some confidence at flying this simulator.

Rounding the base turn it was a combination of flying the real world picture outside the cockpit with one eye hunting the performance measures. The thrust vector is known as the ‘E bracket’ and is designed to fly the jet at the required 8.1 degrees AoA designed for arrested carrier landings. The primary attitude instrument is in the centre of the HUD and is known as the velocity vector (a flight path vector). The aircraft touchdown point can be anticipated by placing it on the threshold. As the wheels approached the runway, the urge to over-flare the aeroplane needs to be resisted and it is flown onto the markers positively before advancing the throttles and taking off again. Simply put, it is a tremendous challenge that I am thoroughly enjoying, but unfortunately it must come to an end. The last landing we use the Hornet’s naval origins to lower the tail-hook and catch the arrestor cable. We stop in a hurry, but I have to throw myself forward in the harness without motion.

We shut the Hornet down and I sit there for a moment. I contemplate what has just transpired, trying to take it all in. It’s not easy as I have a mix of an adrenalin dump blended with a real sense of perspective.

Afterburner aftermath.

My first reaction when I have caught my breath is an even higher sense of respect for the men who fly these aircraft. My father was a fighter pilot in Korea and always understated what was involved. His photo now hangs on the wall at Williamtown, staring back at me from the 1950s. For a little over an hour I had a glimpse of that world. It is a world of flying an extremely high performance aircraft in the most challenging manner and still having to manage a wealth of systems and priorities. All the while maintaining a high level of situational awareness and vigilance for threats both within and external.

I felt a degree of fatigue after a simulated session without any g-forces acting upon my body. One can only imagine the powers of concentration needed to potentially fly long distances to hostile territory, refuelling enroute and then operating in a combat environment before hauling all the way back home. The level of fitness, powers of concentration and ordered thought under pressure is as impressive as the performance of the Hornet itself.

It is no wonder that so many youngsters aspire to a fast jet cockpit in the RAAF and I admit to wishing I was a few decades younger. It is the cutting edge of the aviation spectrum and those who operate there can be rightly proud of what they do. For me, tomorrow it is back to the flight deck, two pilots and straight and level. For the fighter pilots of RAAF Williamtown, it will be another day in the Hornet’s Nest.