F-18 Super Hornet Pilot Performs Cobra Maneuver With No Thrust Vectoring

YouTube / bobsurgranny

Here’s Something You Don’t See Every Day.

F-18 Super Hornets are beasts. They’ve been around for decades and have been dishing out pain for the Navy without a hitch. Today however, we found out something about them we didn’t know.

The cobra maneuver, originally known as Pugachev’s Cobra, is an aerobatic maneuver that seems to defy physics. Back in 1989 Soviet pilot Viktor Pugachyov did it for the first time and since then it’s been catching everyone’s attention at airshows. Not all planes can do it though.

The manoeuver (in case you don’t know), requires a pilot to pull the stick back while flying at moderate speed and tilt the nose 90 to 120 degrees back and quickly come back to level flight. 

Fast forward 48 seconds into the video if you want to jump straight to the cobra. 

The planes that are known for being able to do so are Sukhoi Su-27s, 30s, Mig-29s as well as F-22 Raptors. These planes have massive torque and some of them have thrust vectoring nozzles which greatly assists in carrying out this G heavy maneuver.

What we’ve never seen is a Hornet do it. Also, look at the wings. It has missiles strapped to it so the weight factor is also great.

We don’t know how this guy did it, but here it is. Check it out for yourself.