F-16 Aircraft Database

Airframe Details for F-16 #86-0048




F-16 Aircraft Profile

Aircraft: : 86-0048
LM Aero T/V 1V-1
Plant General Dynamics
Local C/N
Delivered USAF 86048
NF-16D Block 30F
Current USAF 86048
NF-16D Block 30F
Status [act]
In 1988, a contract was awarded to General Dynamics, Fort Worth Division to develop the VISTA (Variable stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft). Calspan, a subcontractor to GD, installed a center stick and integrated the computers needed to perform variable stability flights. Wright Labs bought the aircraft in 1988 and from 1988 until 1992, the VISTA/F-16 program was being accomplished. There was no connection between thrust vectoring and VISTA/F-16.


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Aircraft History

Date Status Local S/N Airforce/Unit Version Name Info
23 Jul 1992 [act] 86048 NF-16D Block 30F
Modified to F-16/MATV - only flew 5 times with vector thrust engine.
Dec 1992 [sto] 86048 NF-16D Block 30F
In late 1992 the aircraft was put into flyable storage. Exact date and location still unknown.
Unknown [act] 86048 NF-16D Block 30F
Modified to F-16/VISTA and re-equiped with a P&W F100-229 engine.
Oct 1993 [act] 86048 USAF 416 TS NF-16D Block 30F
Feb 1996 [act] 86048 NF-16D Block 30F
Located in Buffalo, New York for testing F-22 flight controls. Testing was complete in May 1996 but the aircraft stayed in the region till atleast late 1997.
Oct 2000 [act] 86048 USAF 416 FTS NF-16D Block 30F
Thrust-Vectoring F-16
The F-16 VISTA (Variable stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft) was designed to demonstrate the tactical utility of thrust vectoring in close-in air combat and the use of integrated control of thrust vectoring in flight. The aircraft has demonstrated a steady angle of attack of as much as 86 degrees and a transient angle of attack of up to 180 degrees. In other words, the aircraft can fly backwards for a brief time. The VISTA was later re-designated as the NF-16D, transferred to NASA and was used in the MATV and AVEN test programs.
Apr 2007 [act] 86048 USAF 416 FTS NF-16D Block 30F
Re-equiped with a GE F110-129 engine. Mostly used to train test pilots, but occasionaly used by the Air Force Research Lab and the Air Force Institute of Technology based out of Wright-Patterson AFB.
Apr 2015 [act] 86048 NF-16D Block 30F
Operated by Calspan.

Crew Chief Comments

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SMSgt. Kenneth Isgrigg

 Crew Chief Profile
Calspan Corporation , 1994 - 2000
I was the first Calspan crew chief of the Variable-stability Inflight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA). We operated and maintained it out of the Calspan Hangar in Buffalo, NY from the summer of 1994 until the fall of 1999, when we relocated it to Edwards AFB in California. The initial pilots were Jeff Peer (an Israeli ace), John Ball and Karl Hutchinson. Since 1999, the aircraft has been attached to the USAF Test Pilot School, although it is still maintained and operated by Calspan.


Abbreviations and symbols:
[act] Active [i/a] Instructional Airframe [sto] Stored (e.g. at AMARG)
[cld] Cancelled Order [msh] Involved in Mishap [w/o] Write-off
[con] Converted [o/o] On Order
[des] Destroyed (drone) [pre] Preserved (museum, gateguard) T/V LM Aero Type/Version (Construction) number
[emb] Embargoed [scr] Scrapped Photo Available



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