Something you don't normally see on Loop 820

[KeithnFW]

An F-18 coming in for an arrested landing. . . He had some sort of emergency. . . I never heard what. . . hyrdralic related probably. . .or maybe an engine out. . . fortunately he landed successfully. . .

[Dokk]

VMFA-112 is my old squadron. We had F-4s back then though. Are you sure he had an emergency or was he just practicing arrested landings? They have to do that from time to time as part of their flight qualifications and it's much cheaper to do it locally than to go out to see and find a carrier.

[KeithnFW]

Originally Posted by Dokk

VMFA-112 is my old squadron. We had F-4s back then though. Are you sure he had an emergency or was he just practicing arrested landings? They have to do that from time to time as part of their flight qualifications and it's much cheaper to do it locally than to go out to see and find a carrier.

That's what I was thinking. . . but wouldn't they do that with more than just one guy. . . and from the traffic that was flying in the area, it sounded on the scanner that it was not expected. . .

[Dokk]

It's very possible that it was unexpected if you heard it that way on the scanner. I was just throwing that idea out as a possiblilty. VMFA-112 is a reserve squadron so all but a few pilots are reservists and only fly one weekend a month. A reserve pilot can get flight time outside of drill weekend if he has training that has to be completed and he has the time. Depending on flight scheduling at the base, one pilot may be allowed an arrested landing if that's all he needs to keep current.