do fighter jets have autopilots?

jet a1 · Post by **jet a1** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:14 pm

do they? i'd say yes...but not sure.

sanjet · Post by **sanjet** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:18 pm

yes they do

Driving Rain · Post by **Driving Rain** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:34 pm

I heard a WW2 pilot in training got the relief tube and the gosport mixed up.

Doc · Post by **Doc** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:56 pm

F4 had them.

Galaxy · Post by **Galaxy** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:04 pm

They have some of the most sophisticated autopilots out there. I know the tornado can fly low level in 0 vis by autopilot on bombing missions!!!!

shitdisturber · Post by **shitdisturber** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:12 pm

The Hornet has one, but I don't think it gets used much.

Say Altitude · Post by **Say Altitude** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:13 pm

Tomcat had them..

Skosh · Post by **Skosh** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:46 pm

shitdisturber wrote:The Hornet has one, but I don't think it gets used much.

Not sure if that was supposed to be a slam, but...

Yes, we do have one, with various modes. Nothing terribly sophisticated, but it gets 'er done. Attitude hold, altitude (baro and radalt) hold, heading hold, and auto throttles. The only times we tend to use any of the autopilot modes are on cross countries, or if we're fighting in IMC.

Skosh

shitdisturber · Post by **shitdisturber** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:07 pm

Skosh wrote:
shitdisturber wrote:The Hornet has one, but I don't think it gets used much.
Not sure if that was supposed to be a slam, but...

Yes, we do have one, with various modes. Nothing terribly sophisticated, but it gets 'er done. Attitude hold, altitude (baro and radalt) hold, heading hold, and auto throttles. The only times we tend to use any of the autopilot modes are on cross countries, or if we're fighting in IMC.

Skosh

Which is what I was hinting at in my post. A wee bit paranoid are you?

Dockjock · Post by **Dockjock** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:30 am

Radalt hold....now THAT would be coooooool.

Rockie · Post by **Rockie** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:05 pm

Dockjock wrote:Radalt hold....now THAT would be coooooool.

Don't forget it's a Navy airplane. It's meant to be used over water not land. Terrain following radar looks ahead of the airplane and the radalt only looks straight down.

oldtimer · Post by **oldtimer** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:30 pm

The US Navy launches F 18's off a carrier on the autopilot. That is in case the acceleration yanks the pilots hand rearward, reducing power of pulling back on the stick oo much.

Rockie · Post by **Rockie** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:02 am

oldtimer wrote:The US Navy launches F 18's off a carrier on the autopilot. That is in case the acceleration yanks the pilots hand rearward, reducing power of pulling back on the stick oo much.

There is an automatic deck landing system, but nothing that permits an autopilot flown launch. The throttles have a friction lever that holds them in position, and the pilot keeps his stick hand on a hand grip mounted to the canopy rail. The trim is set quite nose up so that the plane tends to climb after getting hurled off the deck. Immediately after launch the hand comes back to the stick and a turn is initiated away from the ship in case something goes wrong. After all, a bad day gets much worse getting run over by an aircraft carrier.

Here's a cool video of an entire flight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA77ptBdVZ4

ahramin · Post by **ahramin** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:10 am

How the hell would you have trim on a fly by wire aircraft?

Rockie · Post by **Rockie** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:38 am

ahramin wrote:How the hell would you have trim on a fly by wire aircraft?

With flaps selected half or full the airplane has to be manually trimmed like any other aircraft. With flaps in auto that is not the case. But perhaps I should have said there is a takeoff stab setting that ensures a nose up trend after takeoff that will remain until trimmed out or the flaps selected to auto.

groundpilot · Post by **groundpilot** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:17 pm

Rockie wrote:
Dockjock wrote:Radalt hold....now THAT would be coooooool.

wouldnt recommend using it though in the hornet unless you have a death wish. you are restricted from using it below 500'AGL anyhow