Electrical Nightmare in the Gulf
Photo by MCSA Anthony R. Martinez.
The fun immediately began following the cat shot. By Capt. Zachariah Anthony, USMC
he FA-18 is an electrical jet. Nearly every aspect of its operation incorporates an electrical system. Coincidentally, the electrical system probably is one of the least understood by Hornet pilots. We all know the immediate action items, but sometimes that is not enough. I realized I needed to know more during an exciting night flight in the Arabian Gulf. I was the flight lead for a night, close-air-support (CAS) mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. My wingman already had launched off the carrier and was waiting 40 miles away at the rendezvous point. I was late and eager to get airborne to push in-country on time. The fun immediately began following the cat shot. The first thing I noticed was I couldn’t raise the gear. I made the airborne call on departure on climbout only to realize I couldn’t transmit on comm 1. I tried to tell my wingman of my predicament on comm 2, but I couldn’t transmit on that radio, either. I tried all the normal NORDO (no-radio) troubleshooting, with no go. I was NORDO with my gear stuck down. I squawked 7600, turned overhead the ship, and climbed as high as 14
my aircraft comfortably would go in accordance with the air-wing SOP. In the Gulf, with my gear down, flaps up, and full of fuel, I climbed to 11,000 feet. During my climb, I had an FCS, FC AIR DAT, NWS, and BINGO caution. The BINGO was erroneous, but I did have a channel 1 and 2 FCS failure. I broke out the pocket checklist (PCL) to check out the FC AIR DAT caution. It said to go to Gain ORIDE, so I did. With the immediate problems under control, my thoughts turned to recovery options. In the dirty configuration, I was burning too much gas to make the next recovery. I waited for someone to join on me and bring me in for the approach. Checking the bit page, I saw not only were my comms degraded, but my IFF was showing not-ready. I couldn’t be sure someone would join on me, so I had to figure out how to land by myself. I didn’t have the squadron emergency-marshal altitudes and pushtimes, but I easily could see the marshal stack making its approach to the ship. So, I decided to head toward the emergency-marshal radial and make my approach after the recovery was complete. As I headed to marshal, Approach
