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An interesting conversation F-16/F-35


Eagle7907

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Earlier this week I got the pleasure of talking with a pilot based at Luke AFB. He currently fly’s the F-35 as an instructor but had the majority of his experience in the F-16C/D.

 

I got to ask him some fun questions like, which one is better, which one you like best, etc. Surprisingly, he thinks the F-16 is the better performer, but the F-35 will always win the fight. Can’t kill what you can’t see.

 

Also he thinks the F-16 is more fun to fly as well. F-35 is more like an Airbus with lots of automation built in and highly integrated. F-16 not so much. He also shared some anecdotes of fallen comrades during training missions and ejections they did. Wow, that stuff is no joke. You are rolling the dice every time you punch out. DCS misses that portion of flying by a long shot. They seem to make it like a cheat death option.

 

Anyways, thought some would like to read this and discuss. I was really surprised most of the time. He probably enjoyed it, too. Since he was an instructor.

 

 

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Thanks for sharing. Those tales from the horses mouth are always enlightening, yet sadly far and few between.

 

About punching out - I read some time ago that it also compresses your spine quite a bit, and from what I understood a active pilot could only punch out twice until they we no longer allowed to fly because of that very issue.

 

Curious if there are concerns about potential hacking and malware attacks for these highly integrated planes that might not be able to fall back onto more analog means if somethings goes really wrong.

 

(This also is a potential issue for surveillance equipment that's going to eventually replace radar like ADS-A/B, as during tests "hackers" could inject false targets into those displays, etc).

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There was an officer in charge of the AZ ANG Alert F-16s at DMAFB in Tucson who carried the nickname “Rails” because he had punched out of a USMC Harrier (early in his military career) and he’d also punched out of an F-16.

 

Two pulls of the loud handle and he was still flying.

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I think the F-22 would be the one for booth scenario, BVR and WVR, as sone a 4 - 4.5 Gen fighter get in Visual range, the F-35 chances to survive goes down.

 

I know the big advantage is the SA in the F-35, and Possible the adversary never get to see the F-35, but what if they crack the current Stealth technology, like using low frequency radar or passive radar airborne on AWACS or ever fighter jets like they planned on the SU-57

 

I personal don’t like the F-35 just from his appearance, is an urgly bird ;-)

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I think the F-22 would be the one for booth scenario, BVR and WVR, as sone a 4 - 4.5 Gen fighter get in Visual range, the F-35 chances to survive goes down.

 

I know the big advantage is the SA in the F-35, and Possible the adversary never get to see the F-35, but what if they crack the current Stealth technology, like using low frequency radar or passive radar airborne on AWACS or ever fighter jets like they planned on the SU-57

 

I personal don’t like the F-35 just from his appearance, is an urgly bird ;-)

Having an off-boresight missile at hand can't hurt.

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Thanks for sharing. Those tales from the horses mouth are always enlightening, yet sadly far and few between.

 

About punching out - I read some time ago that it also compresses your spine quite a bit, and from what I understood a active pilot could only punch out twice until they we no longer allowed to fly because of that very issue.

 

Curious if there are concerns about potential hacking and malware attacks for these highly integrated planes that might not be able to fall back onto more analog means if somethings goes really wrong.

 

(This also is a potential issue for surveillance equipment that's going to eventually replace radar like ADS-A/B, as during tests "hackers" could inject false targets into those displays, etc).

 

 

 

Yeah, I believe you’re right. He mentioned in one of his anecdotes for a buddy on his wing that ejected twice. He didn’t mention of him still flying.

 

He said the first was in a combat situation and the second was during training. He left out the details of the first but the second had to do with him doing a go around and he ingested some birds. The engine flameout and he tried to get it started again with the jet pitched to best glide. He then elected to punch out since the engine wasn’t responding to start up. Once he did eject, he thinks the force of the ejection forced the nose down and allowed the engine to get increased airflow and then allowed it to start up. F-16 flew a good 30 miles without a seat in the jet.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Win 10, AMD FX9590/water cooled, 32GB RAM, 250GB SSD system, 1TB SSD (DCS installed), 2TB HD, Warthog HOTAS, MFG rudders, Track IR 5, LG Ultrawide, Logitech Speakers w/sub, Fans, Case, cell phone, wallet, keys.....printer

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