Tag Archives: f/a-18D

Leaking Fuel and Engines That Won’t Start

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The Memorial Day weekend included the visit to Boeing Field of four F/A-18 Hornets from the US Marine Corps.  I had heard that they were in the area but wasn’t able to get out to see them until the Monday of the holiday weekend when they were due to head home.  Weather was a bit overcast so not great for shooting a grey jet!  Still, I wasn’t going to ignore them.  When I got there, the crews were just beginning to look like they would be ready to go.

However, things were not going to be smooth.  One of the jets was the color jet and I had heard that it had been leaking fuel during the stay.  Sure enough, when they fueled it up for departure, it must have leaked again because a bunch of ground crew – presumably from the FBO – were suddenly out with absorbent pads and brooms to clean up whatever had spilled.  This took quite a while to get done so the four pilots were hanging around the jets waiting to be clear to go.

Finally, everything was tidied up and they crewed in for departure.  The sound of engines starting was a positive one but, as one jet fired up one of the engines, it definitely didn’t sound like it was spooling up at the same rate as the others.  Sure enough, one jet shut down and the pilot hopped out of the cockpit, walked back down the fuselage and slid to the ground.  I’m not sure what he did to the jet but he then retraced his steps, back up on the jet and strapped back in.  This time, the start sequence went okay and they were all ready to taxi.

Surprise Sharpshooters Visit

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My Saturday morning trip to Boeing Field was to see the Gulfstream test jet covered in this post.  I wasn’t expecting much else other than the usual traffic but I was very happy when I pulled up early to see three F/A-18D Hornets from the Marine Corps training unit, the Sharpshooters.  They were parked on the other side of the field  but had people around them and one was already strobing.  It looked like they were going flying.  All three soon powered up and taxied out.

The taxiway on that side of the field has a kink in it which provides an interesting angle on the jets as they taxi up together.  I was wondering how the departures would look since the weather was heavily overcast and a gray jet with a gray sky is not ideal.  The first jet got airborne and climbed quickly which was disappointing.  However, the number two kept things a lot lower as they gained speed which helped a lot.

About an hour later, I heard them call up on approach.  No run in and break at this airfield.  The traffic over the top for SeaTac makes that more complicated so it was straight in approaches for all three jets.  They did run down a decent distance and then turned off to return to their parking spots.  That was a bit of a bonus.  I don’t know whether they were flying again later as I had other plans but a launch and recovery was welcome.

Salty Dog Hornet Goes Tanking

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The never-ending test program for the KC-46 Pegasus involves testing with a variety of receiver aircraft.  Recently, the Navy has deployed jets to Boeing Field to work with the tankers.  While I was there, it was a Boeing F/A-18D Hornet that was sent across.  Operating with the call-sign, Salty Dog, the Hornet blasted out of the field ahead of its tanker.  They were scheduled to be up until after dark so I didn’t hang around for their return.