A squadron of Spads would be beneficial.
I got to fly in these many times in Pensacola, we had one at Sherman field,,great fun
The F-16 is in the news lately. Here is one loaded for bear.
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
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Let me just appreciate the beauty and stop bringing me down with facts
I dunno. I've seen all manner of really nice looking cars that were otherwise weighed down and absolutely crap to drive. Like a Mercedes-Benz SEL300. Anyone knows what that's like driving their car full loaded vs solo.
Apparently almost anything loaded like a bomb truck will maneuver like one until it loses the load.
The clean Viper is absolutely awesome. No doubt. It's really impressive!Viper demo team puts on great show flying a clean aircraft.
And if you can slick off the jet by jettisoning stores, including air to ground weapons, and tanks, you greatly improve the performance in combat, should you need that performance.
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Not to mention when they were hot - we did not have shoulder fired with target acquisition - and drones for both surveillance and attack
Not loaded for bear quite yet. Look at the left wing between the AARAM on the wing tip and the external fuel tank. That is a TER (triple ejection rack). There is one on the other side also. Each TER can carry three 500 pound bombs. THAT would be loaded for bear. The Falcon is an amazing aircraft.
Surprised no one has asked yet....what oil goes in an F16? Oil change intervals?
Also, just noticed that this is my 777th post. Funny how it landed in the Aviation sub-forum since it’s also an aircraft.
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I don't know a great deal about jet engine oil - because changing, or even checking, it wasn't my area of exertise, but jet engines generally hold several gallons of oil, with several scavenge pumps, and a sump that feeds a pressure pump. They have an oil cooler to regulate temperature. Usually a fuel/oil intercooler.
The nature of jet engines keeps the oil clean. There is very little (or no) combustion blow by into the oil. It's pure synthetic. Mil-23699 was the standard for Navy jets back when I flew them, and it was common across most jet engine types. The change interval was several hundred hours of operation - given the average speed of a jet, that's well over 100,000 miles...
I should add that some consumption is normal. A quart every couple of hours. They had to be checked and topped off every flight. A long mission (8 hours was my personal record) would result in the engine needing some top off oil. But the pressure and temperature were fine the entire flight. On the TF-30 engine in the F-14A, the oil hot light came on at 316F and went off at 256F. Funny that I still recall that parameter...
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True story, I was in VF-126 NAS Miramar 88-92, every one of our F-16N's (along with TopGuns) was grounded do to overstressed airframes in 1991.
The Pacific Coast Air Museum at Charles M. Schultz Sonoma County Airport has one. But their description seems a bit inaccurate, especially the manufacturer. The Viper name I understand. But then some of it doesn’t compute. The airport has a 6000 ft runway.
- Country of origin:
USA - Manufacturer:
Boeing
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Five F-16Ns were assigned to museums. We are extremely fortunate to have obtained this aircraft, which joined our museum in January 1995. The Pacific Coast Air Museum has an excellent reputation with the armed forces, especially the Navy, and was given the opportunity to acquire this aircraft. Currently we are one of only three civilian museums in the world to have an F-16N Viper.
Because it needed such a long runway, it was not allowed to land at Sonoma County airport. It was dismantled at Miramar and trucked to Sonoma County, where Pacific Coast Air Museum members reassembled it. It was the highlight of its first display day, with many people getting the only chance anywhere to sit in an F-16.
It's a bit more complex than a simple overstress.
The airplane was designed for a 6,000 hour life. But that life was predicated on a variety of missions - and the stress was based on the average for each mission. An air to ground mission might see one G flight for quite a while, then a 4 or 5 G dive to deliver the weapons, and a similar amount to recover.
The Navy flew the airplanes in one mission: air to air combat. Sustained 9 G for a very short flight, land, repeat. At 900 hours, on average, the main bulkhead in the airplane had cracked. They were fatigued out.
The usage profile was nothing like the usage of USAF or other countries. They were rode hard, every flight.
They didn't last long. But the fault was in expecting the airplane to last the full 6,000 hours in that kind of flying. If you did nothing but drag strip and autocross with your new car, and never drove it to work or on the highway, then a 200,000 mile life would be impossible.
Good point Astro. Also, I'm sure they flew clean and weren't stores limited, but I wonder if the rolling g limit was routinely exceeded? The 9g limit is good only for lateral g's, but the rolling g limit would have been lower and the g-limiter wouldn't help. After all, you do what you need to do to win a fight, and it's not like you would be damaging an operational fighter.
I heard they were really light without the gun.
When will Ukraine receive the F-16 ?
Will Ukraine pilots be flying the F-16….. or will there be another Francis Gary Powers type incident if an F-16 gets shot down and Russians capture him ?
The American pilot (contractor) working for Falcon Midnight Services, LLC and their address is a PO Box based in Alexandria, VA will have some explaining to do….
Hopefully this scenario does not happen, just throwing this hypothetical situation into the mix.
Old guy on TV will have to deny knowing anything about ex USAF pilots now flying for Falcon Midnight Services, LLC.
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I suspect there will be a lot of volunteers to fly Ukranian F-16s. I also suspect they will be too high value items to fly over Russian airspace, and will be used mostly for Ukraine air defense, hopefully not within the envelope of Russian SAMs.
Russian pilots flew against us in Korea, and probably in Vietnam. Turnabout is fair play.
Russian pilots flew against us in Korea, and probably in Vietnam. Turnabout is fair play.
Can ukraine keep their air bases up to standard for F-16 use though? it's not like russia doesn't know where they are and can't hit them. They are not like a MiG-29 in that regard
Also true. Forgot to mention that.
The F-16, with its low intake, is much more susceptible to FOD (foreign object damage) than other fighters. USAF fields are, of course, immaculate. Not a single stray rock, bolt, or bit of debris.
The MiG-29 was designed for rough airfield operation, to be forward deployed. With landing gear down, it blocks the forward intakes and pulls engine air in from vents on the wing leading edge root. Allowing it to operate from dirt strips if needed without worrying about FOD.
If the Ukrainian fields are under attack, FOD would be a consideration for the Viper.
Honestly, if there was a way for me to fly in this conflict, I would want to.
I’m not F-16 qualified (flew in the back a couple times, but not formally trained on it) but if I were, I would be raising my hand to volunteer…
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