Play / pause Flying the F-16

Flying the F-16

  • Ed Smith
  • Interview by: Ewan Burnett

Transcript

The F-16 was quite a remarkable airplane.

A single engine, single seat, multi-role, true multi-role.

And yet, in the early models I was flying

it was quite a basic system.

It was very easy to fly,

but it was different to fly than the Phantom or the Hawk.

In some ways it was similar to the Tornado

that it has a fly by wire system

but it had the side stick which is different

to anything I'd flown before.

And it fed the fly by, controlled

the fly by wire system through the side stick.

But you very quickly got used to that idea

and I was able to fly the airplane solo

after five, after four, four training flights

with an instructor in the second seat in the two-seater.

I was then able to go and fly the airplane on my own.

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