Forum: F-16 Procedures

Alright, I'm sure this'll make me look like a complete newbie to F-16s... but I've just been dying to know!

First of all, how the heck do you, well, store the thing - that is, lock it up and close it down for the night - more importantly, how do you get it back open once you close it (with nobody in it)? Is there, like... a key or something that everyone carries around? Confused

My other question was how you start the thing but there was already a thread started for that (ha, maybe I'm not as newbie as I thought Smile

)...

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I don't think they lock it up or anything. I mean, would you try to steal something being guarded by an airman with an M-16? Starting procedures are more or less the same as any other jet engine.

"Pardon me, ma'am, I seem to have lost my jet keys."

From: <a href="modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=180">The Greatest Lies in Aviation</a>

"If you find a lost key of F-16, please call to 123456" Laughing

It's ok, it's not an oft asked question actually. Nobody really thinks about it. But for one, look at where F-16s are kept: inside a military base! So they'll well guarded, but that's just a passive security feature.

There is a panel that you can open, and hit a switch to unlock and open the canopy, provided there's enough juice in the accumulators to operate the actuator. Unless I'm way off base and the opening mechanism is electrical. But either way, there's a panel you can open with buttons, and no it's not locked, why do you think they tape over that panel at airshows?
As for starting, no key, just two buttons.

Gotta fly!
Skippy

You guys need to be careful what your posting. You don't know who's on the other end. And you certainly don't know their intentions.

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...seriously, man... do you really think you could use any of this information against people if you don't even have access to what they're talking about? Rolling Eyes

Thanks, Habu, but are you really serious about the "if" factor there? And I really can't understand why they don't use some kind of lock system... of course, if the thing's always guarded and locked up in a hangar when it's not guarded (still a hangar in the mil, right?)... then there's really no need to lock it, haha

Chill, Guest Smile

The quickest way to encourage a troll is to acknowledge it. As far as I'm concerned I don't see any post Wink

Anyway, if it were really that easy to gank a 16, dontcha think it would have been done by now?

Gotta fly!
Skippy

Nah, I just LOVE doing that... I don't think he was trolling, I think he was almost being serious (how could that be a troll?)... some people are really concerned about that and I love making them think about it more clearly.

Of course, it'd be interesting to hear other people's responses to that odd comment of his... I would be kinda worried about that, too, if I didn't know how secure the Mil is (hey, might be a newbie, who knows?)

And suppose you get inside the military base, in a hangar with an F-16, inside the cockpit.
You think you know how to start it? Falcon4.0(not the user who posts here Smile

) is similar but there are still some secret things that only the military know.
And then if you get it started, you have to go to the runway, plenty of oporunities to stop you imho..

Getting in it and driving it ( if it ever got that far ) could get you killed without first having a crewchief confirm (running checklists... and actually knowing the real application of those checklists ) that the jet is safe to fly. Especailly if you were to just dismiss and remove any maintenance tags that might be on it. Spin the wheel and see if you get lucky. I think you would have to be comfortable from past experience as a real live F-16 pilot or crewchief to pull it off. Could be a dramatic way of commiting suicide if you didn't know exactly what you are doing. Very Happy

Yeah, there's a lot of pins to pull and things to reset before you could even get rolling. Heh, imagine finally being able to get airborne, and getting into trouble, and trying to eject, only to have the seat pin still in!
Gotta fly!
Skippy

Yeah. The flightline cuts you almost no slack. You either know what you are doing or you are a hazard to others.

Actually, there has been one documented case of "F-16 theft" in the Belgian Air Force. On Sep. 5th, 1989, a ground crew member took off with F-16A #FA-105 and subsequently crashed. Don't remember the exact details - the <a href="f-16_fighting_falcon_airframe-2223.html">FA-105 details sheet</A> shows everything we know. The "driver" did not survive.

stefaan

The canopy is electrically opened and closed and there is NO locking mechanism.

Forum: F-16 Procedures

How to lock/unlock an F-16?