Odd, fiction related question
 

I've got some experience in flight sims, having whiled away many an hour on old classics such as Aces Over Europe, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Fleet Defender, etc, but I have a problem.

I play around on an RP forum set in modern/near-future times, and one of my recurring characters is a pilot who, in her first series of mini-stories, flew a MiG-29. Now I've got a chance to use her again, but she'll likely be strapping on an F-16.

I've flown the F-16 on Falcon 3.0 back in the day, but I've never had the oppurtunity to fly a MiG-29 on any game (I have Lock-On, but my joystick is busted). Hence, I was wondering if anyone here could offer me some insight into the differences between the two planes, as a pilot might percieve it.

Like I said, odd question.:D

Depends which versions of either plane we're talking about!

The F-16 has much better avionics, later versions have a lot of multirole capability (MiG-29s of later stock have also been catching up on both counts, but not quite). The MiG-29, in theory, has a bigger and more powerful radar, but the F-16s is more versatile and technically advanced. For weapons, both have always had world-class air-to-air armament, but again really depends on years and versions. In theory, the MiG's weapons have a somewhat longer reach. The MiG can also carry more missiles than the F-16. I believe most modern MiG-29s have helmet-mounted reticles for targeting off-boresight missiles, and are equipped with an IRST sensor for passive detection at close-to-medium range which makes them very dangerous, particularly coupled with the AA-11 "Archer" missile which has a slightly longer range than the (average) Sidewinder and was built with thrust vectoring from the start. Current F-16s are being equipped both with helmet-mounted sights and thrust-vectored AIM-9X versions of the sidewinder, too though. The F-16 has a much higher corner velocity - meaning it's a better performer at high speed, but the MiG outperforms it if the (theoretical) dogfight drags down to lower speeds. Having two engines and a lower stall speed is also somewhat of a plus for the MiG. The F-16 has fly-by-wire controls with a "hard" 9G limit - the flight control system will simply not allow it to exceed 9G. The MiG-29 does not, and can (in theory) briefly exceed the limits, but whether that's an actual benefit is questionable.

In a vs. scenario, my bets would be with the F-16, but only if the pilot doesn't let the MiG either catch it off-guard at long range (the F-16's countermeasures should theoretically nullify any advantage to the MiG's ability to shoot its missiles from a longer range than the F-16 can fire its AMRAAM), or get into a prolonged turning fight at close range. In said turning fight, I would peg it on the MiG, as long as it has the above-mentioned IRST and AA-11 missiles. All other things being equal, the MiG is a threat to the F-16, and if I ran into a Fulcrum while piloting the Viper, I'd simply execute a "Grinder" on it, launch a couple of Slammers and get the hell out, low (relatively speaking) and fast.

The F-15 is much better matched 1 on 1 against the MiG-29, I would say, especially in terms of performance.

No, I'm only a Falcon 4 junkie, so any people with knowledge of the real F-16s can feel free to tear the accuracy of my input to pieces :p

Thanks CCIP! That info should work very nicely, especially the stuff about stall speed and cornering velocity.

And I guess I should've mentioned that I'm probably talking about earlier variants of both aircraft, especially in the case of the MiG. Not sure what kind of bells and whistles the Viper my character flies will end up having yet.

This site should definitely do you good also: http://www.f-16.net/