Forum: General F-16 forum

How much time does it take for an F-16A and F-16C to take off from engine start?

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so many factors.. but it really depends on the Wet-bulb temperature

poop_deck_popeyes_chicken wrote:

so many factors.. but it really depends on the Wet-bulb temperature

Nice joke...Be serious man...

Forum Veteran Joined: Jul 01, 2007 - 07:22 PM Posts: 620

It can be anywhere from 7 minutes to an hour or so. Depends on the mission.

I bet it could be done in less than 5 min. But so many factors could increase/decrease that time.

It's like any other aircraft, it depends on the setup, pilot proficiency, urgency, taxi length, ATC delay's etc. For instance if get to the jet with no preparation it takes us anywhere from 40-60 minutes to get off the ground from the time we step to the jet. Now if the jet is sitting alert, we can be off the ground in 8 minutes from the time we get the call.

Thats rather slow..Suppose enemy aircraft were entering airspace..7 or 8 minutes is a long time to take off and intercept..

freckleface wrote:

Thats rather slow..Suppose enemy aircraft were entering airspace..7 or 8 minutes is a long time to take off and intercept..

Besides Chuck Yeager wrote in his book the F-18 or F-20 can be ready in 22 secs..

Whenever I hear "Chuck Yeager" I think of Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds' quote about him:

Burt Reynolds, Darren McGavin's costar in Riverboat (1963), once said of him, "I will say this about McGavin. He is going to be a very disappointed man on the first Easter after his death."

fisk

freckleface wrote:

Besides Chuck Yeager wrote in his book the F-18 or F-20 can be ready in 22 secs..

Not good to take a jet engine from a cold state to MAX power without letting it's temperature 'normalize' or warm up first. (Typically 5 minutes of IDLE)

TEG
(Via Blackbury)

My memory could be failing me here; but, I seem to recall that some users had a scramble requirement to get the jet airborne within two minutes. For other than scramble launches, it's as others have said - variable depending on mission and taxi distance.

We can get airborne in a matter of minutes. It just depends on what status we are in - as mentioned previously. 7-8 minutes is fast if we're sitting in a room playing solitaire, but if you're sitting in the jet, buckled in just waiting for a call it's <5. If you're in a running alert then it can be the time to drive from the shelter to the runway. It all depends on what the threat response requirement time is. The INS is typically the limiting factor - if it is alert prepped, it can take less than 2 min after start.

Like everything else, it all depends . . .

One more add-on: the variability in time is also based on what systems you need warmed up, synchronized and ready for the required mission.
- For an A/A intercept on an airline you need a motor, a radar (maybe), and a weapon.
- For a CAS alert in Iraq or Afg, you need a lot more gnd systems ready (Tgt Pod, possibly datalinks, JDAMs, etc.).

An F-20 would have needed to turn virtually nothing on since it had only a few systems - if I scramble a T-38 then it takes less time than a fully-missionized combat jet. Just a lot more systems on a Viper.

Forum: General F-16 forum

F-16 take off time