My perspective on the EA18 Super Growler crash in Idaho

[AVB]

From early Vietnam to The early 1980's the primary Electronic Warfare aircraft was the EA6A and then the EA6B. This was not a high speed or highly maneuverable aircraft. It still had some tubes in it all the way until it was fully retired from the reserve forces in 2019. Now for active duty squadrons the F16 had come out in the early 80's bit it never had a designated airframe for an electronic warfare use. The first versions used pods under the wings and over time systems were incorporated into the airframe itself. Even then there was talk of having a demonstration squadron but that never occurred because 1. The aircraft didn't look any different then the a normal F16 so the public wouldn't really care. 2. It was behind schedule in filling active duty slots and 3 They couldn't be pulled out of the Iraq war due to normal wear and tear of flying so many sorties.

The the F18 comes along originally in a single seat version (F18A) and later a 2 seater in the F18D and F models. The Back seat would either be the Electronics Warfare officer or in the case of a fighter the weapons officer. With pretty much the same airframe the weight distribution is different between lots of ammo and lots of electronics or little ammo and lots of electronics. Most training is not at full combat load and fighters don't fly is a super tight formation. My suspicion is that whomever made the mistake in the air had more time flying a fighter version and like in all stressful situations muscle memory took over and that small different was enough to touch wings. Now as far as having the demo squadron the public still can't tell the difference and the Blue Angels also fly F18F 2 seat models so it gives the Navy a chance at more PR since they have/had 2 groups of precision flyers.

Just my thoughts for those who may be curious.

 

[CigarStone]

Ray, were these pods under the wings fixed or were they MER's and TER's?

 

[AVB]

Ray, were these pods under the wings fixed or were they MER's and TER's?

I never worked on the pods so I really don't know what ejector rack they used. I worked on the electromics that went into the pods. How they were hung was an Ordnance thing.

 

[BlindedByScience]

Blows my mind thinking about using vacuum tubes in high G applications. Had to be reinforced internally, somehow. I know in audio applications any vibrations are microphonically coupled into them...and you can hear it. Can't imagine that'd be a good thing in an aircraft application....

 

[AVB]

Blows my mind thinking about using vacuum tubes in high G applications. Had to be reinforced internally, somehow. I know in audio applications any vibrations are microphonically coupled into them...and you can hear it. Can't imagine that'd be a good thing in an aircraft application....

Believe me that the EA6B was not capable of high G anything unless it crashed into something. Also the only tubes left after the change over from the A to the B model were Nixies