Abstract
The U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet operational evaluation reported excessive cockpit noise while receiving fuel from an F/A-18E/F tanker. In response, a plan was developed by Navy Aircrew Systems (AIR-4.6) and the F/A-18E/F Integrated Test Team to perform a qualitative assessment of available aircrew helmet passive noise reduction (PNR) systems. The noise levels when behind an E/F have been described to be loud enough to allow aircrew to miss aural tones and/or radio/intercommunications system transmissions during in-flight refueling and close-in formations. This effort gathered fixed-wing tactical aviation aircrew qualitative flight test data on two PNR systems (Oregon Aero SoftSeals and the Communications Earplug [CEP]), using the current, unmodified, helmet configuration as a baseline of comparison. All data collected was in the form of aircrew comments, solicited via questionnaires, on each system. Comments from the flight tests were very favorable for the CEP system. Aircrew reported increased noise attenuation, enhanced communications, and improved situational awareness with the CEP configuration over the unmodified and SoftSeals-modified helmet configurations.