Need some opinions...

[Weaver]

How long are the straights between the turns?

What altitude can/do the racers fly at in between turns?

[mikejapan]

Lowest possible altitude is 50ft and highest is 400ft. Laps for this class of plane would be 8 if your wondering, since there will be 5 other planes racing.
The longest runs I am honestly not sure.  But since these are after burning jet engines we're dealing with. I suspect the max allowed speed is 850-900mph?
Which is scary

Michael

[taiidantomcat]

Rid yourself of the tailhook and its associated housing? Ejection seat still needed? If not, you can save some serious weight that way

[mikejapan]

Ejection seats are staying. Because if something goes wrong your life could depend on that.
Getting rid of the tailhook makes sense. But what if the brakes fail?

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Getting rid of the tailhook makes sense. But what if the brakes fail?

Consider a lighter weight tail hook like the spring-loaded type that was installed on the F-100 Super Sabre perhaps?

[taiidantomcat]

Ejection seats are staying. Because if something goes wrong your life could depend on that.
Getting rid of the tailhook makes sense. But what if the brakes fail?

Now its your model of course, but if something goes wrong at 850-900 MPH 50-400 ft from the ground, you are probably talking to st. peter before you realized something went wrong.  :). the prop jobs that fly air races now don't have em, a lot of racing pilots don't even bother with parachutes.  just sayin'  :)

[elmayerle]

Getting rid of the tailhook makes sense. But what if the brakes fail?

Go with the lighter hook from a F-15, then use the F-14 hook to make a navalized F-15.

[mikejapan]

Now its your model of course, but if something goes wrong at 850-900 MPH 50-400 ft from the ground, you are probably talking to st. peter before you realized something went wrong.  . the prop jobs that fly air races now don't have em, a lot of racing pilots don't even bother with parachutes.  just sayin'   

I'll keep that in mind! Ejection seats would be useless in this kind of race.
I'm thinking about actually getting rid of the RIO's equipment completely. My father suggested a flat deck like an F-15C.

The tailhook from an Eagle sounds pretty good to me. I think I'll go along with that.
If I was going to build a navalized Eagle, it would definitely have landing gear from an F/A-18. I don't like how close the rear landing gear are for a ship.... Shivers

[elmayerle]

If I was going to build a navalized Eagle, it would definitely have landing gear from an F/A-18. I don't like how close the rear landing gear are for a ship.... Shivers

My navalized F-15s will have just that and the F-15 mains can go toward the landing gear on a F-18L or production F-17.

[mikejapan]

Elmayerle = I'm glad to see that someone else thinks alike!

Alright I'm going to buy a 1/48th Tomcat soon. Shouldn't be hard to mod thanks to everyone's input here!  :)

Thanks,
Michael