Why The US Navy Flew F/A-18s At Extreme Angles Of Attack During Carrier Qualification

While all carrier-based fighter jets have high Angles of Attack (AoA) with nose-up approaches, the original McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 legacy Hornet is particularly famous for appearing the most dramatic. The eye-catching, highly angled landing is mostly a product of the physics of landing on a short flight deck while also needing to snag the arresting wire, and is also a product of its time, with less advanced flight control software than today’s F-35C. That said, the Hornet was advanced for its era.