Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

hi just joined this site to ask how much fuel would an f16 have used to do this display at duxford airshow near cambridge uk ? it was a 10 minute display im guessing 500 uk [Link pending approval] a total [Link pending approval] anyone provide me info with how much fuel an f16 uses ? heres link to my 3 videos which show the entire 10 minute display [Link pending approval]#p/u ps theres other aviation videos in my uploads eg f15 and red arrows, hope you like them Smile

ps why does this f16 have 2 streams of air coming off the body nearest the wing ? ( not the smoke deliberatly coming out of those tank things on wing tips) is it an aerodynamic flaw ? whats its purpose ? where exactly is the air coming from/whats it hitting to cause that eg where wings joined to [Link pending approval] love to know thanks ( pause pt1 of3 at 1min47 ish to see what i mean)

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An F-16 demo typically uses 2,000-3,000 kg of fuel. As for the two vortexes, they are caused by air "swirling" over the LERXs in front of the wing causing a cone of "stable" low pressure resulting in condensation of the moisture in the air.

I couldn't say for certain how much fuel would be on board, but I'd guess it to be at least 1500 litres; 500 seems far too low to me. I'm sure someone else will give you a much more precise answer later. Edit: or sooner.

As for the phenomenon you're describing: That's water. Aircraft generally fly by creating lift. Lift is generally created by making a pressure difference, generally via lowering the pressure on top of the plane so as to create a "vacuum", so to speak, on top of the wings/lifting body. When an F-16 makes a hard turn, the pressure difference is especially significant; the low pressure on top of the F-16 is particularly emphasized. The laws of physics dictate that when a body of air decreases in pressure, the temperature will also decrease. If the temperature decreases below the dew point, then the humidity in the air physically cannot maintain in a gaseous state. Thus, clouds of water droplets like clouds temporarily form, as the moisture is "sucked" out of the air.

A single seat F-16 without external tanks has about 7300 pounds of fuel at start. Allowing for start, taxi, takeoff and fuel required to be on board for landing, fuel used for a 10-minute airshow could be around 5000 pounds, which is about 735 US gallons, which is about 2780 liters, if I did the conversions right.

This is Mitch's last official demo of his three year tour. This demo lasts 11'30 minutes. He starts his demo with 7200 pounds and ends it with 600 - 1500 pounds in the tanks, depending on taxi and loiter time.

Greets,

thanks everyone for the brilliant replys, you really know your stuff, in the uk petrol costs about £[Link pending approval] a litre i guess jet fuel costs even [Link pending approval] based on the figures ive been told im thinking the f16 used over £10,000 of fuel in 11minutes ! jesus h christ thats expensive to [Link pending approval] airshows eg duxford pay expenses of planes that come to display ? ps i noticed part3 of my 3 f16 videos got more views than part1 ...if your going to watch them please watch them in order part3 is only 30seconds and nothing really impresive in [Link pending approval] first 2 have the action, i can see why you guys love this plane it was [Link pending approval] went deaf temporarily when it went over my head the first time in part1 !

Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

f16 at duxford airshow videos ive made