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Cockpit video F-16 Heritage flight
Pretty cool! A F-16 Falcon (Piloted by Captain Garrett "Mace" Dover) and a P-38 Lightning (Piloted by Steve Hinton) heritage flight in the California Capital Air Show. (www.youtube.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
The best in the air. Past, present, and future. Let's keep it that way. Thank you Captain.
The F-16 does not actually use the stick movement to control the aircraft, but the pressure of the pilot's hand. The original F-16 stick had no movement at all, but pilots reported that it felt unnatural so General Dynamics changed the design to allow some movement.
Don't know where you heard that, but it is false. The stick just takes very small movements.
"Originally the side-stick controller was non-moving, but this proved uncomfortable and difficult for pilots to adjust to, sometimes resulting in a tendency to "over-rotate" during takeoffs, so the control stick was given a small amount of "play". - Pike, John. "F-16 Fighting Falcon." Global Security, updated 27 April 2005
It is quite common knowledge among Air Force junkies.
It is quite common knowledge among Air Force junkies.
Was not aware of this, but seems odd that a pilot told me that most times, during normal turns and such, that he flew the plane with just one finger resting on top of the stick.
Yes, very cool. But a few things surprise me - one is that the visible stick (his right hand) hardly moves, even during fairly sharp direction/attitude changes. I assume that is the hand flying the F16, as several times he uses the other hand to reset switches etc. Is that extremely small stick movement normal in a fighter jet? I'd expect the side-to-side/up-down movement of the stick to be several inches, not less than one.
Also, I'm surprised how hard he is working - note the chest heaving - for someone who is obviously very fit. Flying one of those F16's is obviously a lot more physical than I'd expected.
Also, I'm surprised how hard he is working - note the chest heaving - for someone who is obviously very fit. Flying one of those F16's is obviously a lot more physical than I'd expected.
picture found on Flight Aware of both planes together from ground.