F-16 best glide speed

[Typhoon1244]

Originally posted by Draginass
...with enough power, even a coke machine can fly.

Originally posted by Hugh Jordan
Fat chicks too!

My wife flies just fine, thank you very much...


Just kidding, Honey!

 

[Draginass]

Keep that up Typhoon and the only things flying will be you s**t flying out the front door and into the street when you leave on your next trip!

 

[bigD]

Toro mentioned that if both engines flamed out on an F-15, the pilot would eject. I'm curious, if that's the case, why wouldn't the F-16 drivers do the same thing? Is the glide ratio of the F-15 so much worse that you wouldn't even bother trying to make a landing?

 

[DaveGriffin]

I once heard a Phantom jock say a coke machine glided better than his F-4 did.

I've heard Phantom drivers describe their aircraft's glide capabilities as similar to a manhole cover.

 

[Mud Eagle]

Toro mentioned that if both engines flamed out on an F-15, the pilot would eject. I'm curious, if that's the case, why wouldn't the F-16 drivers do the same thing? Is the glide ratio of the F-15 so much worse that you wouldn't even bother trying to make a landing?

It has nothing to do with glide ratios.

The difference is that in the Eagle, the flight controls are run by the hydraulics, which is given operating pressure via engine rotation. If one or more engines are windmilling above 12%, there is enough pressure to somewhat control the airplane. The problem is that it takes something near 350 knots to maintain that 12% windmilling RPM....so, when it came time to slow to land, the RPM would stop, the hydraulic pressure drops, and the airplane is uncontrollable.

The F-16, on the other hand, has the Hydrazine emergency power to make the flight controls continue to work for something like 10 minutes following an engine flameout.

 

[PilotoHalcon]

I heard the T38 had the same problem. It would loose N1 in the flare so the hydraulics would be inop. Course I never flew a 38.
j

 

[Typhoon1244]

Keep that up Typhoon and the only things flying will be you s**t flying out the front door and into the street when you leave on your next trip!

Easy! I was just kidding...a wife joke just seemed to fit the flow of the discussion.

My wife's pregnant for the third time in three years. The first ended in miscarriage early on. The second produced a wonderful little boy. The third is ongoing. This time it was an accident; it took three years for us to get pregnant at all...profound fertility problems, you know. Who knew it'd happen again so soon?

We tell each other a lot of fat jokes to ease the tension.

But I digress...you were saying, about stall speeds?

 

[Toro]

Landing with windmilling hydraulics

I heard the T38 had the same problem. It would loose N1 in the flare so the hydraulics would be inop. Course I never flew a 38.

Mud Eagle was right on with why the F-15 can't land with dual engine flameout, which, as you correctly heard was the reason a T-38 can't land with dual engine flameout. The difference is that maintaining windwilling engine RPM on a T-38 requires much less airspeed than an F-15. Mud Eagle pointed out that you need about 350 knots to do it in a Strike Eagle - well, you only need around 150-ish knots in a T-38. In a T-38 won't get insufficient airflow to windmill the engines until the aircraft flares for landing - I've always been told this is when the jet would lose control. Personally, I didn't think losing hydraulics 2-3 feet in the air at touchdown would send the jet out of control. At most, you would lose the authority in your horizontal stabilizer and have a hard landing, but nothing worse than the average beginner T-38 student. I tried landing a T-38 in the sim with dual engine flameout and it landed just fine...doesn't mean I'd necessarily trust it to do the same in the jet, though.

 

[AlbieF15]

Toro,

CPUs (Cockpit units) approximately equal to true AOA + 10...ie...18 units AOA is 8 units true. This gets to be a factor when you talk to Hornet guys, who can REALLY generate the AOA. I believe when they talk AOA it is in true vice CPU units.

For T-38s, the problem with running out of hydraulics 2-3 feet off the ground is the only thing providing resistance on control surfaces is airloads and actuator friction. Put an assymetrical load on the flight controls (rudder or stab) and you might get a yaw or pitch that would put you in a terrible spot in about 2 heartbeats. Not a lot of time to grab handles if something starts to go wrong, and in likely the MOST critical phase of flying at that!

FYI...I give Vipers guys grief sometimes, but I have personally flown with 2 guys who bailed out of Eagles when an engine failed catastophically to the point of taking out the other engine. Two other guys I know (1 an F15E 229) had engines shell and pieces go out the top and side of the jet but not go through and take out the other engine. A former Holloman Eagle Squadron Commander (buddy of mine's boss) used to say "every moment is an ambush". I love flying the Eagle...swear by two engines....but I still preflight the ACES II every flight.

Fly safe!

 

[bigD]

Ah - thanks for the explanation guys! That makes a lot of sense.