F-16, F-22 and F-35 News
UK, Netherlands are working to procure F-16 fighters for Ukraine
There is an international fighter jet coalition being forged by the UK and the Netherlands at the Council of Europe summit in Iceland to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.
USAF F-16C crashes in South Korea; pilot safe
On Saturday morning May 6, a "Wolf Pack" F-16C crashed in a farming area near Osan Air Base. Fortunately the pilot was able to safely eject and nobody got wounded.
US Air Force successfully flying AI-controlled F-16
An autonomous F-16 completed 17 hours of flight testing in December, including advanced fighter maneuvers and beyond-visual-range engagements. The AI algorithm controlling the jet was developed by DARPA's Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program.
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F-16 Fleet Status
F-16 fleet - Jun 6, 2023
Fleet overview:
scrapped: 204
write-off: 620
preserved: 158
stored: 580
instructional: 118
on order: 136
active: 2796
Changes '22/'23:
Fleet adds: 1
Fleet drop: 89
See detailed fleet reports
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Today in F-16 history
6 Jun 2003
The AFTI/F-16 is used in flight trials demonstrating an Automatic Air Collision Avoidance System (Auto ACAS)
(Read more...)
Quote of the Day
Never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.
-- Unknown
F-16 Hall of Fame
Landed with failed leading edge flap
USAF #78044
F-16A Block 5
In Lt. Col. Pat "Gums" McAdoo's words:

"I was the first Viper pilot to successfully land the thing with a failed leading edge flap. Was early spring/late winter 1982. Maybe 20 March, tail number 044, as that log entry shows 0.3 hours and a precision approach. Weather was not ll that keen. Have the HUD video in VHS format."

"Maintenance troops had failed to insert a 'keeper' bolt that is supposed to keep the flap drive tubes from slipping apart. It's like a cotter key on a bolt. The flap drive motor has a spline gear on it and the drive tube has gear teeth that match up. So the drive tube gradually slipped out from the motor spline gear. When I rotated, the drive tube slid all the way out and the leading edge flap went up until the wing upper surface stopped it. Maybe 50-60 degrees. Another troop had his fail a few months later and the flap went to 90 degrees because he was going a lot faster when the drive tube failed. So I was at 160 knots and holding full left stick. Post-flight data revealed that I had about one pound of control authority for banking left. So I was holding 15-16 pounds of left stick the whole time. "

"I stayed at 170-180 knots, as I could still maintain control and wasn't gonna play Chuck Yeager more than I had to. Nevertheless, I was the first troop to fly the thing in that configuration, so everything was new territory. Bunted over to get opposite flap 2 degrees up and locked the flaps( LEF's go up when bunting over, or when weight is on wheels). I now had both LEF's up, and it seemed to help with the roll authority. Additionally, that other flap wasn't gonna be moving all over the place, and this kept things a little more predictable. "

"Came around on the ILS and landed in one helluva crab. The drag was so great that I almost landed short when I pulled off the power. As I was coming in a lot hotter than normal, I thought I would land long. heh heh, sucker dropped like a rock and I was able to make a mid-field turn off."

Exact date of this mishap is not known, but did happen in 1982.
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Callsign of the day

Callsign "Grip"

As in "get a grip." Wrote a letter to my sponsor, "Biggus" before getting assigned to the 36 FS "Fiends" in 1990, asking him to take care of a few things for me ahead of time.
More callsigns
Sierra Hotel
Latest Viper Drivers to reach 1K - 6K flying hours:
6,000 Hours 6,000 Hrs
2008-05-02
Lt.Col. Mike " Brillo" Brill
| 466 FS | 421 FS  
5,000 Hours 5,000 Hrs
2021-09-21
Lt.Col. David " Grits" Gritsavage
| 134 FS | 134 FS | 125 FS  
4,000 Hours 4,000 Hrs
2022-07-08
3,000 Hours 3,000 Hrs
2023-03-16
2,000 Hours 2,000 Hrs
2020-07-00
1,000 Hours 1,000 Hrs
2022-01-26
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Crew Chief Profiles
SSgt Benjamin Hess (added: 5 Jun 2023)
77 FS | 36 FS | 309 FS
SSgt Benjamin Hess (added: 31 Mar 2021)
309 FS
SMSgt. Dong Wook Lee (added: 19 Jan 2008)
157 FS | 121 FS | 121 FS
TSgt. Eric Maxwell (added: 19 Jul 2013)
61 FS | 308 FS | 80 FS | 480 FS | 311 FS | 64 AGRS | 64 AGRS
SrA. Zachary King (added: 3 May 2023)
57 FW | 57 FW
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F-16 Unit
311 sqn "Eagle" (RNlAF)