Forum: General F-16 forum

He's not a fan.

Quote:

@GenChuckYeager: I've been asked my opinion about the F-16. It's a good airplane with music in the background. (mostly good for air shows :-)

Original Message:
[Link pending approval]

F-16.net Sponsor

http://twitter.com/GenChuckYeager/statu ... 6685341697

That is true, but I did get him to sign an F-16 poster in 2004.

Best Regards,

Faq what he thinks, I'm so tired of that guy. I've encountered him several times, mostly while I was stationed at Edwards, all he ever did was put maintainers down, complain about the aircraft, he needs to take a "humble" pill and stop acting like a complete tool. Two Cents

I interviewed him for this site years ago. Enjoyed the well-known book, made me realize how good the author Leo Janos did filtering the harshness. Was neat to interview real history, but came away disappointed. I've heard lots of similar attitudes regarding Yeager like I found and 510Gh0stl noted.

Funny that he was paid so much to promote the F-20 which clearly would not have been as good an aircraft as the F-16. I think he still holds pretty strong to the F-20.

He's had a few too many backseat rides. Never knew a maintainer who liked the man.

Yeah, I think his F-20 bias is clear.

Sometimes old people get stubborn and can't see progress much less accept superior technology.

The F-20 would have been a great jet in a F-5 world, and a few more years to refine the avionics. The YF-17 didn't get its advanced avionics until McDonnell Douglas teamed up to make the F/A-18. The F-16 became the jet that it did, because its a genuine multi-role jet, like the F/A-18.

That doesn't excuse Gen. Yeagers' pro F-20 bias, well after the F-16 had proven its place in the USAF and elsewhere.

Our wing commander said that being a jack**s to the maintainers for no reason.. is very bad form, and can almost end the career of a more junior pilot. If a pilot has a mishap due to not checking their jet properly in pre-flight... that can end a career. I'm sure the wing commander had come across pilots like Gen. Yeager who'd paid the price for those mistakes with their life. The NF-104 AST mishap is a text book example of why test pilots need to fly on profile, or things can get out of hand fast.. with near fatal results.

I knew someone who met him much later, at a friends farm, and he was a "angry swearing a$$**** old man".. was kind of suprised when he found out that guy was the legendary Chuck Yeager.

kamenriderblade wrote:

Sometimes old people get stubborn and can't see progress much less accept superior technology.

Age has nothing to do with it. I first met him in 1974 when he was only 51. Same guy then as he is now. Yeager is a paid Northrop shill.

johnwill wrote:

kamenriderblade wrote:

Sometimes old people get stubborn and can't see progress much less accept superior technology.

Age has nothing to do with it. I first met him in 1974 when he was only 51. Same guy then as he is now. Yeager is a paid Northrop shill.

LOL Funny... some of the other legendary test pilots like John Young were much easier to get along with. 2 shuttle flights, zero waveoffs. I'm not sure how much F-16 experience he has, but he flew a bunch of different jets even in the 80's. He did fly F-5s at some point, and T-38s obviously.

According to scuttlebutt, there was a lot of tension between Group 1 and Group 2 astronauts and certain test pilots because of who made it into space and who didn't. I've heard Gen. Yeager was bitter about that.

I was lucky enough to meet some other legendary test pilots, Bill Dana (X-15), Pete Knight (X-15), and Scott Crossfield. All were fine guys. If you want more Chuck Yeager stories, read this lengthy item about the NF-104 AST which he piloted. The reason he did not make it into the astronaut corps was that he was a very fine natural pilot, but very weak in academics.

http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_01.html

johnwill wrote:

I was lucky enough to meet some other legendary test pilots, Bill Dana (X-15), Pete Knight (X-15), and Scott Crossfield. All were fine guys. If you want more Chuck Yeager stories, read this lengthy item about the NF-104 AST which he piloted. The reason he did not make it into the astronaut corps was that he was a very fine natural pilot, but very weak in academics.

http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_01.html

Yes, I'd heard that too. In FBW jets like the F-16 and F/A-18, instincts can get a pilot into trouble, if they don't study the aerodynamics and aircraft performance data in the manual. The F/A-18 especially had a tendency to remind pilots they are in a FBW jet with a rather violent departure when flying at high alpha. There is a video of a nugget trying to dogfight at an airspeed lower than a Cessna stalls at, and the jet stays in control, but if the pilots banks or yaws sharply, it'll depart into a falling leaf.

From his Facebook page.

Quote:

Q: Is T-38 related to the F-5. A: Not even by marriage. Smile

Both are powered with the twin engines. F-5 had guns. T-38 had no armament.

Damn... memory must be a funny thing. Gen. Yeager.

As I recall, the F-5A/B and T-38 were made on the same jigs, just the F-5 has stronger wings, and structure. The F-5E/F was made with modified jigs, but a maintained a large amount of physical compatibility in the parts. The "Guns" provisioning only changed the nose. The biggest difference between the two is in the avionics and the wings, the T-38 used "foam" honeycomb wings and had no hardpoints for tanks or weapons.

One thing Northop were good at was reusing jigs for efficiency and cost reduction. The YF-17 jigs were reused quite efficiently to make the F/A-18A/B.

Yeager flies out of Shadow here at Edwards sometimes. How does someone as rude and blatantly racist as that still get the AF to bend over backwards to get him in [Link pending approval]

He was here last year for his anniversery of going mach 1. Flew the sortie here in the back of a 15 cause the only thing available at Edwards were 16's. Can't remember exactly what he said, but it was a swipe at Vipers. Was right around the same time Baumgardner (sp) did the balloon jump. When asked his oppinion on that, dismissed it as whoopty freakin do.

Forum: General F-16 forum

Chuck Yeager comment on F-16