Cola I don’t disagree with you, the F/a-18 isn’t getting through the trans sonic region quicker than a F-16 imo. I have heard before that in the sub sonic region that the Hornet has better acceleration but the pilot in the link you provided doesn’t seem to support that. The wing sweep of the Hornet doesn’t allow it to pull through the trans sonic region because its much draggier, even if it has similar thrust to weight.
even using cola’s link, the hornet seems the better dogfighter and the super hornet is even better
also he was running the old FCC with 35 deg aoa roll and not the ‘very’ updated 55 deg aoa roll, as per my link to the fcc update
even so….on page 5 of his link
SLOW-SPEED CHARACTERISTICS
There’s no better performing fighter in the close-in, slow speed, knife-in-the-teeth dogfight than the F/A-18 Hornet, except maybe, of course, a Super Hornet. But that’s another story.
The Hornet flies very comfortably at AoAs of up to 50 degrees and has great pitch, roll and yaw authority between 25 degrees of AoA and the lift limit of 35 degrees of AoA. Most crowds are amazed when the Blue Angels perform the Hornet low-speed pass, which is around 120 knots and only 25 degrees of AoA.
There are no nasty departures to worry about, and if the pilot happens to lose control, the best recovery procedure is to grab the towel racks (two handgrips on the canopy bow used during cat shots).
On the other hand, a Viper has a 25-degree AoA limiter built into its software, and even fewer degrees of AoA are available if it’s carrying air-to-ground goodies on the hard points. Up against the limiter, the nose stops tracking; in that case, it’s time to drop the hammer and use the big motor to get the knots back, which by the way, happens in a hurry.
The Hornet, however, will stand on its tail, hold 100 knots and 35-degrees AoA and swap ends in a maneuver called “the Pirouette,” which looks like a jet fighter doing a hammerhead with a quarter roll. To the spectator and the participant, it looks and feels impossible. the Hornet gets slower (high-energy bleed rate) quicker than anything I’ve flown, and it gets faster (low acceleration performance) slower than anything I’ve flown.
In a Hornet, it’s difficult not to get the first shot in a close-in dog-fight that starts from a perfectly neutral merge (going opposite directions at the same altitude). My Viper buddies tell me there is very little room for error when they fight the Hornet. The best way to handle the situation is to get the Hornet to slow down, while they maintain energy so the Viper’s superior thrust-to-weight will out-zoom the Hornet and then they can shoot at it from above. As a Hornet driver, I have never lost to a Viper guy that I saw, but I have run into Viper drivers that said the same thing about their jet.
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