Thread: F-35 ship suitability testing...

Originally Posted by deathgodusmc

That is a good point. So why dont the thunderbirds use them.

The F-16 is a smaller, more agile aircraft than the F-15. The F-15 has twice the wing area, its wings are 10' longer than the F-16, and the plane itself is some 14' longer than the F-16.

Originally Posted by deathgodusmc

7 ft isnt that big of a deal and your right it isnt agile. Thats why the 16 was a better choice for the thunder birds. When i was sent to misawa air force base with squadron 232 it was for the 16's and 18's to go head to head. The 16's were impressing once of the deck they could pop vertical. Thos 18 pilots would try it and the wings came back all cracked to shit. 18's are agile but the 16 can just turn on a dime.

Yeah, the F-16 is ridiculous. I've heard it's rather twitchy too because of the first generation Fly By Wire and Relaxed stability.
That plane wanted to fly in every direction all at once.

where as a regular plane (which uses positive or neutral stability) you control into it's turn, the F-16 you unlock a direction in which you want it to go. that's why it's so agile.

I remember getting to sit in one once and fiddle with the flight controls. I was amazed by the lack of motion in the control compared to a video game joystick. Where a videogame joystick has like 6-8 inches of control from forward to back (measured from the top of the stick) the F-16s was like 2-3 inches. You had to feed inputs in VERY precisely with your wrist and never your entire arm is what a pilot told me.