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F/A-18 Airframe Logs 6 Million Flight Hours

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050830-08
Release Date: 8/30/2005 2:46:00 PM

By Chuck Wilson, Naval Air Systems Command Public Affairs, F/A-18 Program Office

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- The F/A-18 airframe design – which includes Hornet and Super Hornet generations – reached a milestone of having logged six million accumulated flight hours, Aug. 3.

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps pilots accumulated most of the flight hours, with help from aviators representing seven foreign nations that fly the Hornet. These include the air forces of Canada, Australia, Spain, Kuwait, Finland, Switzerland and Malaysia.

U.S. planes logged about 4,700,000 of the total flight hours.

“I have flown this aircraft from Kosovo to Afghanistan to Iraq to Japan. It has been an awesome plane, and I look forward to many more hours flying it,” said Maj. Jeff Ertwine of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, “The Green Knights,” who flew the milestone during a local training hop from Iwakuni, Japan.

The combat-proven F/A-18 Hornet is the first tactical aircraft designed from its inception to carry out both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. This versatility is a reason for its popularity among pilots.

Cmdr. William Reuter, a test pilot with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., said unequivocally, “The F/A-18 is the most versatile strike fighter ever built.”

The F/A-18 is a supersonic, single- or tandem-seat, twin-engine fighter and attack aircraft. It can operate from land bases or aircraft carriers and can fill a variety of roles: fighter escort, air superiority, reconnaissance, forward air control, suppression of enemy air defenses, close and deep air support, and day and night strike missions. A developing variant, known as the EA-18G, will also convert the Super Hornet into an electronic attack aircraft.

The aircraft’s 21-year history as part of the Navy’s inventory - and its continued development into Naval aviation’s fighter aircraft of the future - demonstrates the program’s legacy, which is proving to outlive some pilots’ careers.

The Hornet and Super Hornet are a critical part of on-going war efforts, where the aircraft continued to offer air strike lethality as the airframe crossed the 6-million-hour threshold.

The Navy plans to recognize every F/A-18 aviator who was flying at 1 p.m. in each loal time zone on the day officials calculated the aircraft surpassed the six-million-hour mark. Those aviators from across the globe will receive a commemorative patch and a certificate of recognition which lauds their contribution toward reaching the historic milestone.