Impressive dead stick landing in F-16, No engine, 9000' in 3.5 minutes

Oberon · 02-13-11, 02:24 PM

Good landing. At least he had a good bit of height to play with on the way down. Allowed him to get into a good approach. F-16s are not the most glidable of aircraft, in fact, not many modern aircraft are IIRC, althoughone would have thought with its large wing surface the F-22 wouldn't be too shabby.
As CCIP says the onboard computers do a lot too, particularly with flight controls, if all of the onboard computers had died with the engine...well...that probably would have been the end of the F-16, thankfully there's two backups IIRC. Does make you appreiciate the Warthog a fair bit, or the early Hogs at least with their manual backup systems. Computer gone? No problem, just bring her in old school. Then again, F-16s weren't exactly designed to be as durable as the Hog.

bookworm_020 · 02-13-11, 07:18 PM

A nice video, When the cr@p hits the fan, it gives an extra good coating! when your in those situations, the workload increases massively.

I saw this video at the same site

http://www.patricksaviation.com/videos/perabrown/3547/

The Caribou left service last year with the RAAF (same as the F-111) and are greatly missed.

Sailor Steve · 02-13-11, 10:44 PM

Nice video! Thanks, Jim.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oberon

Does make you appreiciate the Warthog a fair bit, or the early Hogs at least with their manual backup systems. Computer gone? No problem, just bring her in old school. Then again, F-16s weren't exactly designed to be as durable as the Hog.

The F-16 doesn't even have a mechanical linkage to backup with. Back when they were new we had a rash of "incidents" here in Utah, with a squadron based out of Hill AFB. They said it wasn't the computers, but sometimes one of them would just fall down, for no apparent reason.

I'm glad they have the backup systems.

CCIP · 02-14-11, 12:43 AM

Well, the F-16 can't fly without the computers. Its "flying tail" that makes it so aerodynamically-efficient also happens to be aerodynamically-unstable and requires constant split-second adjustments to keep the plane flying straight. According to some (possibly exaggarated) reading I'd done on the F-16, the plane would flip out of control and get torn apart even from 'normal' flight were that system to fail. Nor are there any physical connections between the stick and the control surfaces.

For all it's worth though, the system works surprisingly well and is part of what makes it so snappy when it comes to maneuvering.

UnderseaLcpl · 02-14-11, 09:28 AM

Glad the plane landed safely. Too bad the radio protocol crashed and burned. Damned pilots

Even so, the comms were well worth listening to. For some bizarre reason, I just love radio chatter.

NeonSamurai · 02-14-11, 11:33 AM

Just some notes but the pilot wouldn't had to have switched the EPU on (unless for some reason the pilot did not put the switch to normal mode during ramp start). Also the hydrazine is fairly safe (well other than being very flammable and highly toxic), the warning was more that the pilot probably has forgot to turn the EPU off (which can be dangerous to ground crew, as the EPU is designed to be used while in the air, not sitting on the tarmac).

Plus the workload is not quite so bad as some seem to think. The radio and engine controls are all by the throttle, and the pilot had his flight doing most of the radio calls for him. Bitching betty calls you just ignore. There is also an emergency stores jettison button which dumps everything other than wingtip ordinance.

Also the pilot didn't go very nose low, only went below 10 degrees when turning towards the runway, most of the time his nose was closer to the 5 degree mark (the nose of the aircraft is the cross at the top of the hud). His desent was steeper than normal, but that was so he could keep his speed up and not stall. All in all that was a picture perfect flameout landing.

oh ya..

Quote:

- The HUD is a very busy instrument, but among things to notice are the 'circle' in the middle which represents the nose of the aircraft and where it is 'pointed': "The velocity Vector".

That is neither the nose of the aircraft nor the "velocity vector", the cross at the top of the HUD is where the nose is (aka the gun cross). The circle in the center is the aiming reticule for air to air missiles. The little circle with the 3 lines is the flight path marker (where the aircraft is going), the left band is airspeed, right is altitude, top is compass.

Jimbuna · 02-14-11, 03:57 PM

I think without the benefit of hindsight....if I'd been the pilot I'd have simply ejected

02-13-11, 07:18 PM	#2
bookworm_020 Navy Seal Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sinking ships off the Australian coast Posts: 5,966 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	A nice video, When the cr@p hits the fan, it gives an extra good coating! when your in those situations, the workload increases massively. I saw this video at the same site http://www.patricksaviation.com/videos/perabrown/3547/ The Caribou left service last year with the RAAF (same as the F-111) and are greatly missed. __________________ "There is always one person in any organization who knows whats going on, That person must be fired"

02-14-11, 12:43 AM	#4
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Well, the F-16 can't fly without the computers. Its "flying tail" that makes it so aerodynamically-efficient also happens to be aerodynamically-unstable and requires constant split-second adjustments to keep the plane flying straight. According to some (possibly exaggarated) reading I'd done on the F-16, the plane would flip out of control and get torn apart even from 'normal' flight were that system to fail. Nor are there any physical connections between the stick and the control surfaces. For all it's worth though, the system works surprisingly well and is part of what makes it so snappy when it comes to maneuvering. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

02-14-11, 09:28 AM	#5
UnderseaLcpl Silent Hunter Join Date: May 2008 Location: Storming the beaches! Posts: 4,254 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Glad the plane landed safely. Too bad the radio protocol crashed and burned. Damned pilots Even so, the comms were well worth listening to. For some bizarre reason, I just love radio chatter. __________________ I stole this sig from Task Force

02-14-11, 03:57 PM	#7
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,552 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	I think without the benefit of hindsight....if I'd been the pilot I'd have simply ejected __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

02-13-11, 02:24 PM	#1
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	Good landing. At least he had a good bit of height to play with on the way down. Allowed him to get into a good approach. F-16s are not the most glidable of aircraft, in fact, not many modern aircraft are IIRC, althoughone would have thought with its large wing surface the F-22 wouldn't be too shabby. As CCIP says the onboard computers do a lot too, particularly with flight controls, if all of the onboard computers had died with the engine...well...that probably would have been the end of the F-16, thankfully there's two backups IIRC. Does make you appreiciate the Warthog a fair bit, or the early Hogs at least with their manual backup systems. Computer gone? No problem, just bring her in old school. Then again, F-16s weren't exactly designed to be as durable as the Hog.