Fighter Jet Ride Along - High above New Jersey, I pulled the oxygen mask from my eyes, afraid to drop it.
Maj. Jason Markzon, our F-16 pilot, flew the plane through two difficult rounds, part of a flight procedure called a G-exercise. Moments later, Markzon-Flack was the Air Force icon — suddenly flipping the plane on its side, a maneuver known as a razor blade that set the plane's plastic wings toward the world. He brought us back to level ground, then pulled the plane hard to the right. I cried.
Fighter Jet Ride Along
The sharp turns and sudden changes were physically punishing - a bike ride I wanted to finish. "You mean to take it down?" I asked.
We Took A 500 Mph Ride In A Real Fighter Jet
"Rain, what's up man?" Flack asked, his voice coming through the speakers inside my red, white, and blue helmet.
We took off about 20 minutes ago, after all eight jet stages ignited and landed on the runway at MacArthur Airport on Long Island. We flew off the ground into the bright red sky on a windy morning in late May. After losing air, Flack returned the control stick with his right hand, sending us into a 60-degree climb at a speed of 400 mph.
The F-16's seats sit at a 30-degree angle, so a 60-degree ride feels like you're going straight. We flew at about 10,000 feet. It lasted about 30 seconds and hit us at 5.4 Gs, or more than five times the force of gravity. I weighed about 155 pounds, but at that speed, I weighed more than 800. Flack ended the ride by bringing us down in a slow roll. We stood for a while.
We entered Park State, and Flack made a 90-degree, then a sharp 180-degree turn—a long, hard pull and a twisting pocket angle. I received 6.2 Gs during the operation. (Astronauts have three or four endurances during flight, and the F-16 and its pilots can maintain nine.) Quick maneuvers are part of G-training. The plane, and the person on board, can bear the risk. I didn't miss it
Fighter Jet Flight Locations
It's hard to describe how good it feels to pull heavy Gs. The feeling of pain sends you back to your seat. You have trouble breathing. The force pushes blood out of your eyes and brain, which can give you tunnel vision. It's not uncommon for rookies to feel the punishment of Gs—some even faint—and shake them to the point of getting airsick.
The Air Force gives journalists a chance to ride in an F-16 when the Thunderbirds are in town. The team is to the Air Force what the Blue Angels, with their F/A-18s, did to the Navy, in New York in May.
Pilots often refer to the F-16 as a "snake", a reference to the plane seen in the original Battlestar Galactica and the fact that the plane can be modified, like a snake's head. (The nickname is "Fighting Falcon," but come on: "Viper" sounds better.)
Flack takes me to an F-16D Block 52, a two-seater built in the 1990s. It has a Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine that produces over 29,000 pounds of thrust. Freeze the carrot widely, if you burn fuel to lighten the load, the plane will fly straight. I sat on the Aces 2 ejection seat, which I secured before lifting by moving a small lever.
I Flew In An F 16 With The Air Force And Oh Boy Did It Go Poorly
The Air Force added the F-16 to its fleet in 1979, and the aircraft continues to operate today; The single engine aircraft is lighter than the naval weapon and can fly at twice the speed of sound. He is known for his agility and ability to run at low speed. "The F-16 was the ultimate fighter jet of the 20th century," said retired Colonel Mike Torrealday (call sign, T-Day), who flew the plane for 25 years and then retired from Utah behind the wheel. fall. "It's probably one of the most important aircraft in aviation."
Movies like Top Gun can't convey the brutal physics of flying a fighter jet that can, as T-Day put it, "hit 9 Gs in less than a second." Pilots are athletes in high physical condition and endure years of training to control the forces of acceleration. This is important to prevent a phenomenon known as G-LOC (pronounced gee-lock), or see the loss of G it causes.
Before donning the vipers, Flack and I donned G-suits—a long-waisted flight suit that featured a hose connected to the plane's ventilation system. When pilots feel an increase in speed, the suit fills with air like a balloon, compressing the legs and abdomen. It prevents blood from swimming to the sides, keeps it in the chest and head and reduces the risk of fainting.
More important on the bike is a technique called the anti-G roll-out maneuver that requires tightening your calves, hamstrings, quads, and glutes throughout your abs. Imagine sitting in an office chair, and pulling your legs back as you twist and pull them forward. It helps keep the blood flowing to your heart and brain, keeps your lights on and keeps you, as the pilots say, from falling asleep. Birds do this by rapidly inhaling and exhaling every three seconds or by making a "keh" breathing sound.
L 39 Albatros: Thrilling Aerobatic Fighter Jet Experience Review.
Pilots first learn these flight techniques and practice in a centrifuge, learning how to do it right and wrong. "You can see someone melt right in front of you if they're not doing the proper anti-G-pressure action," says Cheryl Lowry, an Air Force colonel and physician at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
You can't safely pull that many Gs without wearing a suit and exercising. Your heart rate will increase as it fights to pump blood up before it meets other areas. You will lose your peripheral vision and then you will be able to see color instead of being temporarily blind. "Hurry up, you're at risk of having G-LOC," Lowry said. When you are sober - if the plane doesn't crash - you will relax.
Pilots do not lose sight; The Air Force says that statistically, it takes 200,000 hours of flight time or more to find a single G-LOC event. He has recorded at least nine incidents in each of the past three years, including one fatality during a Thunderbirds exercise in Nevada in April, 2018. Maj. Stephen Del Bagno after feeling the rise of 2 negative Gs (a situation that can happen if the plane turns, blood rushes to the head), while flying before he weighs 8.5-g. The Air Force concluded that the "push-pull" effect of those two factors reduced Del Bagno's military tolerance and reduced the effectiveness of its anti-G-marketing work, resulting in G-LOC.
Computers can help F-16s and some F-35s use a system called Auto-GCAS to avoid a crash if the pilot loses sight. The Air Force said the system saved eight lives. But the Thunderbirds left the technology, because its pilots always fly at a low altitude, and they don't want to threaten the software that controls the planes.
Fly A Jet Fighter
Pilots spend years practicing the skills necessary to handle the challenges of high-speed flight. I took about four hours of training which included the basics like what to do during an evacuation. (One tip: "Think above and below" if you cross power lines.)
"Improving G-strain is like finding the perfect fit for a soccer ball," says Jan Stepanek, MD, director of the Air Therapy Program at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. pull, find out how many Gs they can tolerate before it becomes necessary, and they can when working without knowledge. I'm not sure if I got it right.
Flack had one advantage over me: since he was in control of the plane, he knew what was going to happen. Motion sickness on an airplane, like reality and in the backseat of a car, is caused by a disconnect between what your eyes see, what your ears hear and how your brain processes that confusion. Although I was happy to have a good look at the sky and the ground below (but not in front of me, as Flack's seat and other workers blocked the view) through the cover, I felt the stimulation in my inner ear.
I found joy in the plane - for a person who loves flying, it was one of the most important and difficult moments of my life. But the worst is compounded.
Flight Training In A Jet Fighter
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