F-16 Reference
5th Gen Fighters
|
F-16 Unit
Tayeset 119 "Bat (Ha' Atalef)" (IDFAF)
Quote of the Day
I'd hate to see an epitaph on a fighter pilot's tombstone that says, I told you I needed training.... How do you train for the most dangerous game in the world by being as safe as possible? When you don't let a guy train because it's dangerous, you're saying, Go fight those lions with your bare hands in that arena, because we can't teach you to learn how to use a spear. If we do, you might cut your finger while you're learning. And that's just about the same as murder.
-- Colonel 'Boots Boothby, USAF Fighter Pilot
Today in history
Image Gallery
USAF F-16C block 30 #86-0320 from the 18th AS based out of Eielson AFB is parked on the Misawa AB flightline on October 27th, 2009.
F-16 Hall of Fame
|
Landed with failed leading edge flap
|
USAF #78044
F-16A Block 5
In Lt. Col. Pat "Gums" McAdoo's words:
"I was the first Viper pilot to successfully land the thing with a failed leading edge flap. Was early spring/late winter 1982. Maybe 20 March, tail number 044, as that log entry shows 0.3 hours and a precision approach. Weather was not ll that keen. Have the HUD video in VHS format."
"Maintenance troops had failed to insert a 'keeper' bolt that is supposed to keep the flap drive tubes from slipping apart. It's like a cotter key on a bolt. The flap drive motor has a spline gear on it and the drive tube has gear teeth that match up. So the drive tube gradually slipped out from the motor spline gear. When I rotated, the drive tube slid all the way out and the leading edge flap went up until the wing upper surface stopped it. Maybe 50-60 degrees. Another troop had his fail a few months later and the flap went to 90 degrees because he was going a lot faster when the drive tube failed. So I was at 160 knots and holding full left stick. Post-flight data revealed that I had about one pound of control authority for banking left. So I was holding 15-16 pounds of left stick the whole time. "
"I stayed at 170-180 knots, as I could still maintain control and wasn't gonna play Chuck Yeager more than I had to. Nevertheless, I was the first troop to fly the thing in that configuration, so everything was new territory. Bunted over to get opposite flap 2 degrees up and locked the flaps( LEF's go up when bunting over, or when weight is on wheels). I now had both LEF's up, and it seemed to help with the roll authority. Additionally, that other flap wasn't gonna be moving all over the place, and this kept things a little more predictable. "
"Came around on the ILS and landed in one helluva crab. The drag was so great that I almost landed short when I pulled off the power. As I was coming in a lot hotter than normal, I thought I would land long. heh heh, sucker dropped like a rock and I was able to make a mid-field turn off."
Exact date of this mishap is not known, but did happen in 1982.
|
|
See more interesting F-16 Aircraft profiles
|
Sierra Hotel
Latest Viper Drivers to reach 1K - 6K flying hours:
|
6,000 Hrs
2008-05-02
|
|
|
5,000 Hrs
2011-05-09
|
|
|
4,000 Hrs
2011-06-21
|
35 FW
| 80 FS
| 69 FS
| 69 FS
|
|
3,000 Hrs
2011-06-23
|
|
|
2,000 Hrs
2011-06-21
|
|
|
1,000 Hrs
2011-06-21
|
|
| See more F-16 Pilots profiles |
Crew Chief Profiles
(added: 5 Aug 2011)
| 80 FS
(added: 20 Jun 2010)
61 FS
| 80 FS
| 23 FS
| 81 FS
| 39 FLTS
(added: 30 Jul 2011)
526 FS
| 526 FS
| 62 FS
(added: 29 Jun 2007)
524 FS
| 35 FS
| 555 FS
| 56 FW
| 309 FS
| 56 FW
| 308 FS
(added: 28 Jul 2011)
F-15E
| F-15
| F-15E
| 64 AS
|
