F-18 Takes Off a Road...

Luis R. Ramos · July 12, 2015, 01:06:56 PM

Saw this on Youtube, thought there would be some interested... Do not recognize the roundel, if that subdued circle by a number is one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNuVCvIGKxE

Flying Pig · July 12, 2015, 01:46:30 PM

The video says its Finnish Air Force Training. With a modern day fighter jet, if you are at the point where your air force is operating off of back country roads vs your bases with all of your support Id think you are in a world of hurt. Now I want to see where he ended up landing!

JeffDG · July 12, 2015, 01:57:20 PM

The Finnish Air Force has a big bad neighbour to watch out for.

Luis R. Ramos · July 12, 2015, 02:31:09 PM

Ok, Thanks! I guess I missed that part...

At some time the F-18 buzzed the road. I thought it was landing. Would like to see an F-18 taking off or landing in any part of New York's LIE or the Belt Driveway... Or the BQE!

PHall · July 12, 2015, 03:35:54 PM

Using roads for back up runways is pretty common in some european countries like Norway, Finland and Switzerland and a few others I've forgotten.
During the Cold War they KNEW the Soviets were going to bomb the crap out of the airfields so they built roads that have sections that were strengthened and equipped to be used as runways.
IIRC this was a NATO recommended practice.

Luis R. Ramos · July 12, 2015, 04:05:10 PM

In looking at the video, I saw the F-18 took off along a stretch of roadway with no light poles. Immediately in front of where the rotation occurred there were some... Think there have been stretches of roads left un-lighted and un-poled just for that purpose? As emergency airstrips?

MSG Mac · July 12, 2015, 09:08:51 PM

When they passed the Interstate Highway Act, President Eisenhower insisted that there be a provision that at least one mile out of five be straight so that military aircraft could land or takeoff.

Spam · July 12, 2015, 11:04:53 PM

Slow approach speeds and handling qualities for short landings are one of the reasons the Finns bought the Hornet in the first place, with its carrier suit tested heritage.

The Swedes have a similar alert launch and AD mission against the same opponent, with lots of attention paid to their highways and to divert bunkers and facilities. Driving the highways from Arlanda (Stockholm) down to the Saab aircraft facility at Linkoping, you can see the straightaways and seemingly pointless "rest areas" that are not in fact rest areas but rearming sites and prepositioned logistics/FARP areas as they assume their bases will be under continuous attack (or may be radioactive). You can even see them from Google Earth, where these small roads and highways meandering along go all wide and cleared out in the middle of nowhere, or where they have big paved turn offs that disappear into a wooded hill side bunker.

When we got to fly the Gripen sim at Linkoping in the late 90s, I found the design of their excellent high alpha PFR symbology to be very useful in simulated short landing approaches as you'd fly in a forest road approach (this was for the joint X-31 program, with over 30 degrees pitch to aerobrake at the threshold). Their engineers (will never forget the one guy named "Magnus Magnusson") gave us a tour of their underground factories buried a far as 100 meters (yep, in meters) into bedrock against a Soviet nuke strike. Nordic/Germanic engineering at its best.

The smart countries all have hardened aircraft shelters (HAS) against conventional and special weapons. See Taiwans airbase at Hualien, at https://www.google.com/maps/@24.0218595,121.5836902,584m/data=!3m1!1e3 where the taxiways all disappear into the mountain.

Those countries know where to keep an eye peeled, and they are increasing their training these days for good reasons. Good to see.

Nice video, thanks for sharing, Luis.

V/R,
Spam

bosshawk · July 13, 2015, 12:09:15 AM

The original Autobahns in Germany were built with lots of long, straight stretches so that they could be used as auxiliary airfields. The German Air Force used them for just such facilities in the late months of WWII. In fact, we found tons of Luftwaffe aircraft in the trees off the Autobahns at the end of WWII. Certainly not a new concept, just one that the US has never adopted. The "we" in the previous sentence didn't include me: I didn't get to Germany until June, 1959.

lordmonar · July 13, 2015, 12:26:49 AM

It is not like the U.S. is in danger of getting over by Canada or Mexico and have to fall back to auxiliary air fields.

For Finland, Sweden, and other European countries (and South Korea too) getting over run by a neighbor is not a theoretical exercise...but a real possibility.

BTW....a lot of those roads as runways are located near air bases...the idea is that they may take out the runway but we can still launch and recover aircraft and taxi/tow them to the logistics area.

I know that the main drag leading into Ramstein is set up for launch and recovery. It even has a crash barrier equipment set up for it. All they have to do is drop the street lights and set up the barrier and it is good to go.

JeffDG · July 13, 2015, 12:35:24 AM

Quote from: lordmonar on July 13, 2015, 12:26:49 AM
I know that the main drag leading into Ramstein is set up for launch and recovery. It even has a crash barrier equipment set up for it. All they have to do is drop the street lights and set up the barrier and it is good to go.

Lemme guess, the street lights have pins in the base that can be pulled and they're laid out nice and quick.

lordmonar · July 13, 2015, 12:37:09 AM

They go Down the center line but yes they are built with quick removal in mind.

EMT-83 · July 13, 2015, 12:56:04 AM

Quote from: MSG Mac on July 12, 2015, 09:08:51 PM
When they passed the Interstate Highway Act, President Eisenhower insisted that there be a provision that at least one mile out of five be straight so that military aircraft could land or takeoff.

Urban myth, was never true.

abdsp51 · July 13, 2015, 03:28:37 AM

Quote from: lordmonar on July 13, 2015, 12:26:49 AM
I know that the main drag leading into Ramstein is set up for launch and recovery. It even has a crash barrier equipment set up for it. All they have to do is drop the street lights and set up the barrier and it is good to go.

Till they put the traffi circle in..

PHall · July 13, 2015, 04:11:34 AM

Quote from: abdsp51 on July 13, 2015, 03:28:37 AM
Quote from: lordmonar on July 13, 2015, 12:26:49 AM
I know that the main drag leading into Ramstein is set up for launch and recovery. It even has a crash barrier equipment set up for it. All they have to do is drop the street lights and set up the barrier and it is good to go.

Till they put the traffi circle in..

Well since Ramstein is now a "heavy" (C-130/C-17/C-5) base, it probably doesn't matter any more.

vorteks · July 13, 2015, 12:30:34 PM

That would be an F/A-18.

JeffDG · July 13, 2015, 01:44:02 PM

Quote from: veritec on July 13, 2015, 12:30:34 PM
That would be an F/A-18.

not necessarily.

The F/A-18 designation is US. The RCAF flys CF-18s.

Flying Pig · July 13, 2015, 01:57:27 PM

Not to be confused with the Qaher F313

Hey... Wikipedia says its real.

vorteks · July 13, 2015, 02:04:20 PM

Quote from: JeffDG on July 13, 2015, 01:44:02 PM
Quote from: veritec on July 13, 2015, 12:30:34 PM
That would be an F/A-18.
not necessarily.

The F/A-18 designation is US. The RCAF flys CF-18s.

Interesting! What variant(s) does the Finnish Air Force use?

Flying Pig · July 13, 2015, 03:09:13 PM

I don't know the first thing about Finland other than what I can find online. But I did find an article talking about Finland in talks to buy the F35. Makes sense considering the vertical aspect of the F35

Another interesting thing was the use of a blue Swastika as their roundel from 1918-1945. I do realize the swastika has been around long before the Nazi's. Just a fun fact.