Forum: F-16 Procedures

I have noticed some AD guys are sitting lower than what I was used to seeing before. I was told ,some years ago, the proper seat adjustment would be to put your fist on top of your helmet then raise the seat till your fist touches the canopy.
We had a crash a few years ago that was mentioned here.
http://www.f-16.net/news_article187.html

This was not the whole story though. Sammy was flying in and was heard by his wing-man say "oh no" then silence. They later found out he hit a turkey buzzard which caused his canopy to flex enough and either break his neck or knock him out. He continued to glide until he belly flopped into the ground. No additional communication was heard even after repeated calls from this wing-man before hitting the ground.

The point was if he had been sitting lower could this have been avoided and is that the reason the guys are sitting lower now?

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I've also heard of the fist procedure. Some guys might even use the gun boresight cross as an eyepoint reference. Depends on who ya ask.

IIRC, the WAR HUDs had an embedded pattern for seat/eyepoint adjustment due to the unique holographic issues of that style of HUD. Ya had to futz with seat height or else you'd lose most of the symbology when ya put your head in a certain attitude.

The pilot's used to use the "design eye" function of the HUD TEST patterns (first page) to properly align the seat with the HUD FOV. If I remember correctly, they would adjust the seat up or down so that an equal number of horizontal lines (TICS) would be seen through the combining glass.

The pilot's used to use the "design eye" function of the HUD TEST patterns (first page) to properly align the seat with the HUD FOV. If I remember correctly, they would adjust the seat up or down so that an equal number of horizontal lines (TICS) would be seen through the combining glass.

The pilot's used to use the "design eye" function of the HUD TEST patterns (first page) to properly align the seat with the HUD FOV. If I remember correctly, they would adjust the seat up or down so that an equal number of horizontal lines (TICS) would be seen through the combining glass.

I dont really get it, Racker can we go over it one more time LMAO

sweetpete wrote:

I dont really get it, Racker can we go over it one more time LMAO

Hey he's from Sheppard where they train crew dogs. And you know you have to go over it and over it and over it again with those guys... LMAO

ACMI you are correct.....in the early 80's it was a fist between helmet and canopy. We need Gums to chime in here, he can clear it up.

During the B Course we are taught the procedure Racker talked about for setting our seating height. However, most dudes just use what they are comfortable with. I personally run the seat all the way down. The bad part about using the HUD TEST pattern to set your height is that it's only valid with your cranium all the way back against the seat and I don't know any pilots who fly with their nuggets against the head rest, especially during BFM.

Forum: F-16 Procedures

Proper seat adjustment