Forum: F-16 Procedures

Hey there!

I have a question, sorry if it sounds stupid. But still - OK, drop tanks are usually jettisoned when empty. But what happens when there is an emergency concerning the weight of the aircraft, and those tanks (fuel not entirely used) are dropped somewhere (in the desert, let's say Very Happy

). Does they spill? Or there is a system preventing the environmental contamination in such a case?

Curious.

Shocked

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quicksilver4e, drop tanks are NOT dropped when empty in real life, only in the movies. If you drop your tanks in flight during a war, you soon run out of drop tanks. When an emergency exists and the tanks are jettisoned, to say extend gliding range, the tanks hit the ground and split open. There is always a little bit of fuel (when empty) and that is spilled onto the ground. An accident site needs to be cleaned of fuel and other pollutants.

haha, i am absent-minded or have i fallen victim of some random information Very Happy

thanks!

@guardbaby: You are correct sir vis-a-vis keeping empty tanks on board as SOP. But in combat, if ya need to get rid of 'em to give yourself a maneuvering or speed advantage, then ya get rid of 'em, empty or not. Not sayin' it should be done EVERY time you're in a bind, but don't be afraid to punch 'em off if needed. They can always call up AMARG. Or make more tanks. Wink

As guardbaby said, you don't drop the tanks when they are empty. They are dropped in emergencies, but during times of war, they do have a tank build up. They have people that build tanks in case they do drop them. I use to be on a tank build up team and during exercises we had to build 8 tanks in 12 hours. It may seem easy, but image building this with MOPP gear on and being under attack and other training task they come up with. We got to a point where we could build them in half the time. Oh, they had to be pressure checked and pass to be considered good.

This is one reason why the external tanks feed out first. You want them empty when you drop them and your internal tanks full.

Never say never. Just like in combat, when a subsequent flight is unlikely, there are no g-limits. Wink

Cali wrote:

As guardbaby said, you don't drop the tanks when they are empty. They are dropped in emergencies, but during times of war, they do have a tank build up. They have people that build tanks in case they do drop them. I use to be on a tank build up team and during exercises we had to build 8 tanks in 12 hours. It may seem easy, but image building this with MOPP gear on and being under attack and other training task they come up with. We got to a point where we could build them in half the time. Oh, they had to be pressure checked and pass to be considered good.

This is one reason why the external tanks feed out first. You want them empty when you drop them and your internal tanks full.

I assume its the same with the F-16 tanks, but my understanding with the F-15s is that when at war usually the cheaper war reserve material tanks are used. I think one of the differences is that the WRM tanks lack internal baffles, so fuel gets sloshed about more.

I'm not sure about the WRM F-15 tanks. Also the F-15 feeds from it's internal tanks until it gets airborne , then it starts feeding from it's externals. The A-10 feeds from it's external tanks first also, I don't know why they designed the F-15 to do that. But I guess by the time it gets anywhere near the action those tanks will be dry. Had a pilot jettison a c/l on a 16 yesterday, apparently for no reason...lmao. We are still trying to figure this one out.

Forum: F-16 Procedures

Jettisoning full fuel tanks