F/A-18 Hornet
ICAO F18HThe original Hornet, now flown mainly by Finland, Switzerland and Spain. Live F/A-18 Hornet positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No F/A-18 Hornet is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- McDonnell Douglas
- Role
- Multirole fighter
- Class
- L2J — Landplane, 2 jet engines
- Crew
- 1, or 2 in the B and D
- First flight
- 18 November 1978
- In service
- 1983
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the F/A-18 Hornet
The legacy Hornet has largely left American service but remains the front-line fighter for several European air forces, and those are the aircraft most likely to appear here. Finland and Switzerland in particular fly in busy shared airspace where transponder use is expected, so their Hornets transmit more consistently than most fighters anywhere.
Both of those fleets are on their way out. Finland is replacing its Hornets with the F-35A and Switzerland has ordered the same, so this page is documenting a type in its final years in Europe.
Spain, Kuwait and Malaysia are the other significant operators. The US Marine Corps still flies a diminishing number of F/A-18C and D aircraft.
Callsign prefixes
- FINN
- Finnish Air Force flights
- SUI
- Swiss Air Force
- AME
- Spanish Air and Space Force
How to recognise it
- —Rounded engine intakes, unlike the Super Hornet's rectangular ones.
- —Twin fins canted outward, and leading-edge extensions running to just below the windscreen.
- —Noticeably smaller than a Super Hornet when the two are seen together.
Common questions
+ Who still flies the legacy Hornet?
Finland, Switzerland, Spain, Kuwait and Malaysia, plus a shrinking US Marine Corps fleet. Canada and Australia have retired theirs.
+ Why do Finnish and Swiss Hornets show up so often?
Both operate in dense civil airspace where ADS-B is expected for peacetime flying. It is a rule about airspace rather than anything about the aircraft.
+ What is replacing them?
The F-35A in both Finland and Switzerland. Spain is moving toward the Eurofighter and a future European design.