General Atomics Conducts Super Hornet Fly-In Recovery With Arresting Gear System

General Atomics’ electromagnetic systems business has conducted the first fly-in aircraft recovery of an F/A-18E Super Hornet with the use of the company’s Advanced Arresting Gear system to verify AAG’s performance.

The fly-in aircraft recovery operation performed at the Runway Arrested Landing Site at Joint base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey Oct. 13 comes on the heels of more than 200 roll-in test arrestments conducted there since March, General Atomics said Thursday.

“We’re tracking to a very aggressive testing schedule, and this fly-in recovery marks a major step toward AAG readiness for on-board testing on the Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78),” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS.

The AAG turbo-electric system works to control the speed of aircraft recovery operations on carriers and the system is installed in CVN 78 along with the GA-EMS Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System.

“We’re collecting data to support the development of an Aircraft Recovery Bulletin, a critical step toward arresting the aircraft on CVN 78,” said Andy Gibbs, AAG chief engineer at GA-EMS.