Photo by MCS1 Michael R. McCormick.
The Importance of
Switchology
By Lt. David Gentner
veryone who has flown a Hornet knows the airplane can be smarter than the person flying it. One of the assumptions, however, is that the jet gets properly programmed by its human operator. I’m talking about what is known throughout the fleet as proper “switchology,” one of the most important skills an FA-18 pilot must possess. With that thought, here’s my story of how a simple switchology error almost killed someone. 30
It was my first underway as a nugget, and we were conducting tailored-ships-training availability (TSTA) aboard an East Coast CVN. I was up for a good-deal, section, low-altitude pop hop with two live 500-pound GP bombs and 250 rounds of 20mm bullets. The bombs were built-up with BSU-86 fins, which can be employed in a high-drag (Ret.) or low-drag (FF) configuration. Depending on pilot selection in the cockpit, one of the functions of the stores-management system (SMS) is to provide the appropriate ballistic-release calculations for a given weapon configuration. For this flight, we had planned to employ only the bombs in high-drag mode, so, in accordance with current tactical recommendations, the ordies wired the fin-release lanyard to the positive-arming latch on the aircraft-weapons station. With this setup, if the ordnance came off the jet, the high-drag fins would deploy, regardless of pilot selection in the cockpit. Approach
