Sit in a cockpit of a F16

aliqat · by **aliqat** » 06 Nov 2018, 14:24

Hello, i am a retired Boeing employee and a commercial pilot with a instrument rating. I also was a member of a virtual F16 wing and over several years have learned all the unclassified systems and have over 200 hours of F16 sim time.

All i am asking is to be able to sit in the cockpit of a real F16. I have a unopened bottle of Jeramia Weed to whoever can arrange this.

Thanks Ron
rgmalavotte@live.com

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 06 Nov 2018, 14:53

Keep an eye out for F-16 displays at the local airshows. While I have not seen it done at Luke, I have sat in the cockpit of an F-16 at the Scottsdale Air Faire. The line was 2.5 hours long, but I figured I had been waiting 24 years already, whats 2.5 hrs? Where did you get the Weed? I have had a lot of trouble finding it in Phoenix the last five years.

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 06 Nov 2018, 19:02

Funny that this came up today. It was 6 years ago today that I did it.

magnum4469 · by **magnum4469** » 06 Nov 2018, 21:02

I may be wrong but I thought the Air Force had an AFI that stated unless seat qualified no one could sit in the seat. I believe many units also added to this restriction in their Unit guidance that says they can't even have the canopy open at airshows. I think this was due to some damage done when someone kicked a MFD while getting out...

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 06 Nov 2018, 21:05

I didn't do it. I treated that cockpit like a place of worship.

aliqat · by **aliqat** » 07 Nov 2018, 01:18

I bought it at Total Wine and More in Scottsdale, for $15.99. tel:8553289463 I bought two bottles of the weed. As for screwing up something in the cockpit, won't happen as i have several years of being in a virtual F16 squadron that has several active F16 drivers. They tell me the software we use is just like the real plane including the flight characteristics, only missing the motion and g forces and the feeling it's for real. I know what not to touch. They take you through a series of lessons that take about a year to complete. It's a very good aircraft.

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 07 Nov 2018, 02:30

Total Wine, right on. Thank you.

35_aoa · by **35_aoa** » 07 Nov 2018, 04:49

sprstdlyscottsmn wrote:Funny that this came up today. It was 6 years ago today that I did it.

F-16.jpg

No offense to you, but I would never knowingly let some random person don my O2 mask....thats just nasty

As for the questions about regs, no idea what USAF rules say, and I actually don't know what ours say either, but it would have to be on an extremely case by case basis in my mind. A fully pinned modern ejection seat isn't going to just fire, at least not a NACES or ACES II, but I would fear the damage your average overweight Joe would inflict on the cockpit/panels/switches/knobs trying to get in and out. I'm not big by any means, but even for me, it is a highly practiced skill, getting in and out without kicking anything or putting my feet where they shouldn't be. And a single seat F-16 is significantly more challenging to get in and out of gracefully than just about anything else I've flown.

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 07 Nov 2018, 13:50

It was a challenge for sure. For those few minutes I got to feel my dream of being a Viper pilot.

popcorn · by **popcorn** » 07 Nov 2018, 14:27

sprstdlyscottsmn wrote:It was a challenge for sure. For those few minutes I got to feel my dream of being a Viper pilot.

The closest I got was peering thru the canopy of a Viper at the AF Museum in Dayton.

Michael_NIL · by **Michael_NIL** » 07 Nov 2018, 14:51

I had my first Viper "seat" time during a Danish air show in 2006. I was the first to get into the pit. Nice to know regarding the oxygen mask. I later had the opportunity to sit in a single seater and in 2016 I was blessed with a flight in a L-39 from the display team called the Baltic Bees.

F-16ADF · by **F-16ADF** » 07 Nov 2018, 15:03

I always thought the F-16A model was the most difficult to enter or exit because of the radar display that is nearly between your legs. The block 30 C model was easier.

On a side note, the legacy Hornet in my opinion had the coolest cockpit. The pre MSIP Eagle seemed to have the most archaic, nearly as outdated as the Phantoms (with all those steam guages). Even the Tomcat had a more advanced cockpit than the F-15A/C.

35_aoa · by **35_aoa** » 08 Nov 2018, 02:15

f-16adf wrote:I always thought the F-16A model was the most difficult to enter or exit because of the radar display that is nearly between your legs. The block 30 C model was easier.

On a side note, the legacy Hornet in my opinion had the coolest cockpit. The pre MSIP Eagle seemed to have the most archaic, nearly as outdated as the Phantoms (with all those steam guages). Even the Tomcat had a more advanced cockpit than the F-15A/C.

Yeah, I should have caveated my comment with the fact that my only experience manning up the F-16 was in the A's and B's (which were much easier to get into than the A). I much prefer the Super Hornet cockpit to the Legacy, but they are sort of similar looking if you aren't looking super closely. For a cockpit that was designed and first built in 1978, it was worlds ahead of the other legacy/4th gen aircraft of its day. It's a bit more common these days of course.

sluggz · by **sluggz** » 14 Nov 2018, 07:32

magnum4469 wrote:I may be wrong but I thought the Air Force had an AFI that stated unless seat qualified no one could sit in the seat. I believe many units also added to this restriction in their Unit guidance that says they can't even have the canopy open at airshows. I think this was due to some damage done when someone kicked a MFD while getting out...

Yes, one has to go to an f-16 egress class to be able to enter the cockpit. The exception is when setting up the cockpit for entry for a static display, egress will come out and disable the seat. The picture above your post shows this has been done, they will tape an X over the rescue door. They will also place a device on the ejection control safety handle to prevent the safety pin from being removed.

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 14 Nov 2018, 13:54

That explains a lot.