Thread: F-16 glider
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Old January 18th 09, 03:07 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
kirk.stant
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Default F-16 glider

On Jan 18, 5:45*am, Gavin Short wrote:
At 20:00 17 January 2009, wrote:



Apparently the glide ratio of an F-16 with the engine out is 1:1 so the
pilot's rate of breathing in the video clip is impressively calm!


Well, it's a little better than that. When practicing SFOs (simulated
flame out) approaches, the rule of thumb (and this is from memory so
any F-16 drivers out there please jump in!) was 250 knots clean and
6:1 to the field; i.e. you needed 1000' for every nautical mile from
your intended touchdown point. Tried it several times in F-16
simulators at Luke AFB and it worked fine (lots of fun, too -
sometimes the hardest part was getting it stopped!). So the L/D is at
least 6:1, probably as high as 10:1 clean at L/D max speed.

OTOH, the F-4E flight manual (that I just happen to have handy) is
very explicit on what to do with both engines out:

"If neither engine can be started - EJECT"

Kirk
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