Forum: F-16 Design & Construction

Has anyone ever tried this? Or maybe it is absolutelly impossible, and when the aircraft looses the canopy in any circumstances (in the air obviously) the only option the pilot has is to bail out?

F.E. MiG-29's did get back home safely without the canopy several times in Russia and other countries... (unfortunately couldn't find any photos, but I've seen ones)

P.S. If the question is stupid you are fully authorized to laugh at me Wink

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Don't know if it has ever happened, but the checklist for Canopy Loss in Flight directs the pilot to "Land as soon as possible." That should indicate that modeling shows the aircraft can be landed despite the aerodynamic differences. That being said, you'd have to hope that in losing the canopy no other damage was done to the control surfaces of the jet - principally the vertical tail. And it's a good question. Has this ever happened in the Viper?

Not a stupid question at all.

Don't know if it has ever happened in service, but back in 1975 a YF-16 (memory could be wrong here, might have been an FSD airplane later) was installed in the NASA Ames wind tunnel with the canopy removed. Purpose of the test was to obtain pilot environment information in the event the airplanes ever had to land without a canopy. The airspeed was up to 200 kts. for the test. Maj. Bob Ettinger was in the cockpit. His impression was the main problem would be disorientation from the wind blast. He was able to hunker down behind the HUD to get some relief from the blast. The HUD and glareshield are designed to withstand 600 kt without the canopy in place, so it was secure. Bob's conclusion was the airplane could be landed without the canopy if you could survive from whatever speed the canopy departed until the speed was down to 200 kt.

During the flyoff with the YF-17, one of the YF-17s did lose a canopy in flight, but that was not a serious problem, since it had a windshield. That event reminded everyone how serious the problem might be for the F-16.

To the best of my knowledge the F-16 has never lost a canopy in flight. I do remember that a South Carolina ANG pilot successfully landed a single-seater after a bird strike that took out a large portion of the forward part of the transparency. The emergency procedure in the flight manual is based on the testing Johnwill mentioned.

I think it is possible for a Viper pilot even he will miss the the front screen like an Eagle or Fulcrum has it. Safety glass on the helmet down, speed and flaps down and good luck Wink

That mishap happened to a German Fulcrum in Sardegna in 1998. The pilot was able to land safely.

http://www.fabulousfulcrums.de

Thanks guys. Although it may be possible to land a Viper with no canopy, I still can't imagine such thing. It would be something like driving a car at 220 mph with no windshield...

P.S. This MiG on the pictures is now a part of PolAF and is stationed in Malbork, Poland.

Ah and I attach another pic (Su-35UB) I found...

Greetings.

Notice the aft seat is missing and there is soot on the fuselage just aft of the seat. Looks to me like the GIB got a little excited and punched out. Could have been some kind of ejection test, I suppose.

johnwill wrote:

Notice the aft seat is missing and there is soot on the fuselage just aft of the seat. Looks to me like the GIB got a little excited and punched out. Could have been some kind of ejection test, I suppose.

Nope... this was made on purpose, for a russian film (don't know the name though). Su-27UB took off and landed with no canopy. Co-pilot ejected in the air. There were a couple of flights made like this in order to shoot enough material. What's interesting, the pilot (Kedrov the name) claimed that he has passed 1.9 Mach in such configuration and the only thing he complained about was the noise...

EDIT: The aircraft is not Su-35UB, it's painted to resemble the prototype.

We had a pilot try to reseat his canopy lock in a 117. Canopy went right between the rudders with no damage to rudders. He made it back. Said he just tried to hide behind the HUD best he could. 2 black eyes and pretty shook up, but otherwise ok.

What Brain Box says on such emergency? Pull yellow-black handle between the legs immediately or fly straight back to base as slow as possible?

cutlassracer wrote:

We had a pilot try to reseat his canopy lock in a 117. Canopy went right between the rudders with no damage to rudders. He made it back. Said he just tried to hide behind the HUD best he could. 2 black eyes and pretty shook up, but otherwise ok.

787 if I remember correctly. It happened on climb out and they found the canopy about 12 miles down range.

This one was 790. Happened Holloman up around Albaquerque (sp). around 95.

An F/A-18 lost a big part of its windshield and canopy over Afghanistan while refueling. The refueling basket smashed out most of the forward glass. Pilot ducked down just like all the above mentioned pilots and returned to base.

An A-6 landed on a carrier when the navigator/bombadier's ejection seat malfunctioned. It blew off the canopy, extended the rails of the ejection seat, but did not fire. Windstream beat the navigator unconscious, but he survived. There is a really strange picture of this aircraft landing on the carrier, the navigator somewhat in a Jesus pose.

And finally, two P-38s were returning to England after a sortie over Europe. Over the channel, they got bounced by a single 109 or 190. The 109/190 had saddled up on one of the P38s and started hammering it with cannon fire. The canopy of the P38 ripped off from the damage, then the induced drag slowed the 38 so much that the 109/190 overshot him. The P-38 pilot kept his cool and was able to shoot down the enemy aircraft when it flew right in front of him.

Here is a pic of F-14 without canopy. Happened during incentive ride. Apparently back seater wasn't strapped in very tight and when pilot pulled negative g, he reached down to grab the nearest handle. Pilot landed safely.

An F-15E from Lakenheath suffered a bird strike and the WSO ejected. The Pilot stayed with the jet and made an emergency landing but had to stay in the jet three or so hours before an egress team showed up to help pin the ejection seat. Forgot where the Strike Eagle had landed in England somwhere.

Forum: F-16 Design & Construction

Is it possible to land an F-16 without the canopy?