An interesting video about Wing 12 published by Fly By Wire Aviation
We have all seen movies about fighter planes where the pilots wear helmets and walk around the runway of an air force base.
It seems that this habit will soon disappearand we can see why in another interesting video published today by the Youtube channel Fly By Wire Aviation (I recommend you subscribe to it if you are an airplane fan). In this excellent video we see the moments before and after the flight of two Spanish EF-18M Hornet fighter aircraft from Squadron 12 (the C.15-13/12-01 and the C.15-60/12-18) from the Torrejón de Ardoz air base in Madrid. Further details to follow shortly:
There are two details that caught my eye in this video. The first is the target designator AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING, which the C.15-60 carries on its ventral mountThis system is used to track air and ground targets both day and night and in clear and adverse weather conditions. In Spain it is used by the EF-18 and Eurofighters of the Air Force and by the Harrier II Plus of the Navy. In this case, the aircraft was armed with two AIM-2000 IRIS-T air-launched missiles on the edge mounts of its wings, so the designation in this case would be used to track air targets.
On the other hand, we see that The pilot of the C.15-60 boards the aircraft without a helmet and with a large black bagThe shape makes it clear that the bag contains the pilot’s helmet.
After returning from the flight The pilot of the C.15-60 hands over his helmet to a member of the ground crewwho stores it in a black bag. The reason for this procedure is clearly visible in the video: This pilot was wearing one of the new Scorpion helmets, a high-tech device that provides the pilot with flight and combat information wherever he looks. This helmet type has a full-color HMD (Helmet-Mounted Display, that’s the white piece in the picture), which transmits information from the conventional HUD (Head-Up Display, the glass screen on the aircraft’s instrument panel) to the pilot via a glass plate in front of the right eye. This is a pretty expensive helmetwhich is why it is treated with great care.
Once the Scorpion helmet has been delivered, The pilot of the C.15-60 leaves the aircraft with his head uncovered and the pilot of the C.15-13 leaves the aircraft with his HGU-55/P helmetThis last helmet model, much cheaper than the Scorpion, was first used in the US Air Force in 1983 and came to Spain in 1986 with the EF-18which replaces the famous HGU-33 (which we have seen in films such as the first part of “Top Gun”, among others). In any case, I had never seen pictures of this change of custom with the new Scorpion helmets. It is clear that with the Fly By Wire Aviation videos you always learn new things.
