The F-16 is still flying at air displays, and next year will see the 30th anniversary of its knock-your-chausettes-off Paris Air Show debut, but there are no plans to stop flying.
"There was a perception that started in the early 1990s that the F-16 was an older aircraft, and it's good for us to demonstrate against newer fighters," says Lockheed Martin senior manager for flight operations Bland Smith, who has been demonstrating the fighter for "way too long"—actually, since the Singapore and Farnborough shows in 1988. "Also, there's a new generation of air force officers who cycle through every few years."
Lockheed Martin's F-16 display is designed to show off features that are important in air combat. They include the F-16's agility—its ability to transition from one maneuver to another—its thrust/weight ratio, its sustained energy maneuverability and the performance of its flight control system.
Smith is flying an F-16C Block 50, with a GE F100-GE-129 engine. The show starts with three-quarters-full internal tanks and wingtip "Smokewinders" which weigh about as much as a real AIM-9, so the airplane's weight is similar to that of an F-16 entering an air-to-air engagement.
Maneuvers such as the "T-Bird reposition"—a hard level turn flowing into a steep climb followed by a 270º roll and pull—and the "Falcon turn," a hard turn, roll and pitch, show the fighter's agility. So does a series of loaded rolls, pulling 6g through a series of tight rolls.
Vertical climbs demonstrate the thrust/weight ratio. Smith climbs vertically right after take-off, with the F-16 still accelerating through the pull-up to a peak of 200 kt. At the top of the climb, the speed decays to 150 kt and Smith pulls over into level flight.
One maneuver "looks like the aircraft is starting to depart," says Smith. The "limiter spiral" starts with a vertical climb followed by a pull down. As the nose drops below the horizon with the stick full aft, Bland pushes the stick all the way right or left and the airplane rolls at low speed, showing how the limiters in the flight control system keep the pilot out of trouble.
The last maneuver in the display, a high g turn, shows the sustained maneuver performance of the airplane—a flat 360º turn at 420 kt and 9g. That's about as fast as the display gets: Smith keeps the airplane between 300 and 375 kt most of the time, to keep the display tight and close to the crowd. "The F-16 is small and hard to see—it's a disadvantage in an air show, an advantage in close-in combat."
The display has changed since 1988. "I'm not sure who initiated it—it might have been the French—but the shows have changed from a series of maneuvers into something more like ballet. The transitions become part of the show, not something done out of sight," says Smith. Items have been added and removed. "We threw out a negative 3g. It hurt our bodies and nobody really cared." Lockheed Martin Corp. is at OE15 and Chalet D10-11.
