At moment I'm plagued by thunderstorm activity so I'll be brief and return when I can. On another forum I asked the question with this reply:
"There was no throttle lock or grip in the Super Hornet, you just had to brace your arm - but you most definitely had your hand on the throttle. In fact I'm not sure there was a towel rail on the port side to hold."
" In the Hornet we put our left hand behind the throttles to make sure the throttles don't inadvertantly slide back during the cat stroke."
Not definitive sadly. However I did see a photo from the side front quarter of the Hornet HUD which may account for the 'small' hudlike feature you point out. From the front on colour photo it seems to me the AoA indexer is wider than what might be seen when in shadow. I'll have a look again for this other photo.
I will say that IF the VX-23 Hornet is modified in some way for a two hands completely off controls (as seen in the F-35C catapults recently) it may be a test item for these 'special' Hornets? OR the towel rails may be on either side but only the left one used? I have never seen a Hornet in real life.
http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4057.0;attach=10330;imagehttp://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a208651.pdf Hornet HUD evaluation from 1989 (2.5Mb) Only download if interested.
Never noticed the towel rail in this photo before (from a magazine story about the
Classic Hornet RAAF simulator):
http://www.milskil.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=CBcBwLq%2F9qQ%3D&tabid=61 (may not be available now - have not tried). So then perhaps VX-23 do their two handed thing as a test? Not enough information. :-)
So apologies - I could have looked for more information. In this photo of the
RAAF Super Hornet Sim:
http://defence.boeing.com.au/ViewImages.do?id=40143&Year=2008 (link not working now) we can see the 'other' towel rail on the left (a bit hidden). So I hope we can agree that the Hornet family have towel rails either side and it is quite possible for the VX-23 test pilot (if that is who we see in the video clip) is having 'both hands' on the towel rails either side?
I'm not trying to be difficult - just curious - the RAAF sims shown may have the extra because that reflects a modification in the RAAF Hornet family? These RAAF Hornets do not catapult. I know that the Classic Hornet for the RAAF was especially nobbled to be unable to be used on a carrier - don't know about the RAAF Super Hornets (perhaps NOT because when they were first mooted to be bought there was a justification that they could be sold back to the USN after replacement F-35As were purchased many years hence). Anyway I'll look for USN Hornet photos when I have a chance.