Forum: General F-16 forum

Hello,

My name is Nate and I am trying to find someone who can answer some of my questions about F-16s. I am writing a report on F-16s for my 5th grade research project. I have already read a lot of books about the F-16 but want to find out more from someone who has really worked with one.

Here are my questions:

How has the fly by wire technology made flying an F-16 different then other fighter aircraft?

How have the technologies developed for the F-16 impacted the design of newer fighter aircraft?

In an article, General Motors says that their automobile Heads Up Display technology was inspired by the F-16. Are there other cool things from the F-16 that show up in products civilians use?

Thank you!!

Nate Bensing,
Lafayette Elementary
Washington, DC

F-16.net Sponsor

I haven't worked on the F-16, but I'll try to help out while you wait for more qualified answers.

The Fly By Wire (FBW) allowed the F-16 to fly even though it was aerodynamically unstable. Being unstable means that the plane always wants to pitch up or down in normal flight. A normal stable plane always tries to flight straight. The reason why they wanted the F-16 to be unstable is because the force that makes a plane stable works against it when it tries to maneuver, so all else being equal the unstable plane can make quicker changes in orientation.

Being unstable can also allow the plane to generate more lift. A stable plane with a conventional tail actually creates downforce (negative lift) to remain stable. This negative lift acts just like extra weight and forces the plane to give up a little bit of payload/cargo weight and causes unwanted drag (any aerodynamic lift, positive or negative, creates drag, but obviously it's extra bad when it comes with negative lift on a plane). The F-16's tail generates lift, and this has the same effect as giving it bigger wings.

Other important features of the F-16 that have appeared on other planes are the glass cockpit and LERX’s (Leading Edge Root Extensions). The glass cockpit, named because of the multiple glass displays on the control panel, is more reliable and easier to read than older analog dials and gauges. Modern airliners and cars use similar displays to help the pilot/driver to be more effective at their job/task.
The LERX’s are the curved blended surfaces that attack the wings to the fuselage. Older planes were basically tubes with wings, and the fuselage didn’t contribute to the lift very much, though it created a lot of drag. This began to change in the 60’s when engineers experimented with lifting bodies, which were basically planes without wings. The F-16 used the lessons learned from lifting bodies and applied them to fighter design. The F-16’s LERX adds additional lift to the fighter, and makes the air flow over the plane “cleaner” at high Angles of Attack (AoA is the angle between the direction that the plane is flying and the direction that the nose points [or more accurately, the chord of the wing]). This makes the plane more agile as it can fly at higher AoA without stalling since in general the lift that a wing produces increases with AoA. This is how planes maneuver. The pilot does not directly choose a direction to fly with the flight stick, he chooses an AoA, and the plane maneuvers accordingly.

Exorcet,

Thank you for the great reply. You make it a lot more clear then the books!

Nate

Forum: General F-16 forum

Questions for 5th Grade Research Report