Flight Evaluation of the Communications Earplug for Improved Situational Awareness in the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet

The F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet is the United States Navy's new long-range, multi-mission, all-weather strike fighter. As part of its multi-mission role, the Super Hornet will be used as an aerial refueling aircraft. The pilot of the aircraft to be refueled must fly in formation, driving the fuel probe of the aircraft into the fueling basket. The F/A-18 E/F operational evaluation (OPEVAL) reported excessive cockpit noise while flying in formation, receiving fuel from an F/A-18 E/F tanker (Figure 1). The noise levels have been described to be loud enough to allow aircrew to miss aural tones and/or radio/intercommunications system (ICS) transmissions during aerial refueling and close-in formations. Excessive noise has been found to compromise communications because of inadequate speech signal-to-noise ratio at the ear (Mozo & Murphy, 1997a).
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