Decided to give the F/A-18C a go.

I'm brand new to the Hornet. Going to concentrate on learning systems, takeoff, basic navigation & airfield landings. Carrier ops can come later.

Other than reading the manual about 16 times before getting in the cockpit, does anyone have any hints & tips for a brand new Hornet pilot? Stuff that isn't necessarily in the manual but that's useful to know for basic flight ops?

You may find watching some of the F/A-18 Youtube videos by Matt Wagner, Redkite, Spudnocker, Growling Sidewinder and others useful. A picture paints a 1,000 words, right?

A minor word of caution though, that some of the functionality on JDAM, radar modes, etc. might have changes since these videos were published but ones on aircraft handling, minor systems etc should be fine. Matt Wagner often posts a video for updated functionality on particular systems.

Do some training missions without weapons and get used to the handling, navigation and autopilot operation (focussing on the HSI displays). They're the building blocks of any mission and there's a lot of detail. If you get involved in the weapon systems at the same time, it's easy to get swamped.

When you're comfortable, focus on one weapon system at a time. Create a couple of really simple training missions with some targets and learn a different system at a time.

A skill you will have to get to grips with is air-air refuelling as the Hornet is not blessed on the range front!

If you wanna go real deep with this bird I'd advise you to have a look at the available NATOPS manual as well. I learned a lot from that.

Go play the training missions included with th fa18, they are excellent and really easy to follow since you learn in the plane itself instead of needing to see something from a video or a manual and trying to do the same hands on this module.

They are also quite complete in my opinion though I'd recommend them mostly for starters because they don't go that deep into all the systems.

So in the end I'd say dive in these training missions and then when you finished them, for additional info on systems such as the radar, the countermeasures, the targeting pod, etc... see tutorials or read the manual.

Do some training missions without weapons and get used to the handling, navigation and autopilot operation (focussing on the HSI displays). They're the building blocks of any mission and there's a lot of detail. If you get involved in the weapon systems at the same time, it's easy to get swamped.

 

When you're comfortable, focus on one weapon system at a time. Create a couple of really simple training missions with some targets and learn a different system at a time.

 

A skill you will have to get to grips with is air-air refuelling as the Hornet is not blessed on the range front!

Agreed, this is usually the way I learn new aircraft. For me doing one step at a time then moving on allows me to get comfortable with one system before trying to learn something else that's also new.

Thanks everyone for the tips, lots to watch, read and try.