F-16 Low Flyby

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Pocatello

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,754
2
76
Originally posted by: sciwizam
Link

Gloss over the techno bit.

:Q @ 1:30

From the militaryphotos.net forums, it's a Dutch's F-16. Imagine if an USAF pilot doing something like that, he'll be in hot water. Flying low for combat training is one thing, entertaining the people on the ground is best left to the Blue Angels.
 

RichUK

Lifer
Feb 14, 2005
10,341
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I take it if the pilot got caught doing that he would be in serious shit with his superiors?
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
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Originally posted by: iFX
Damn that was low. Was that a USAF F-16? I know the US has sold that jet to just about anyone who had the $$$.

judging from the few markings/uniforms to can make out in the video i'd say no.
 

sciwizam

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2004
1,953
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Originally posted by: lupi
Originally posted by: iFX
Damn that was low. Was that a USAF F-16? I know the US has sold that jet to just about anyone who had the $$$.

judging from the few markings/uniforms to can make out in the video i'd say no.

As Pocatello mentioned above, the planes belong to the Dutch.

Text
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
22,778
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Anybody notice a theme in those low flybys? Most are in the desert, with a relatively low bird population. I've done some low work with the banner pickups and birds are the biggest problem. At those speeds a crow would do some serious damage!
 

ConstipatedVigilante

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2006
7,670
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Originally posted by: skyking
Anybody notice a theme in those low flybys? Most are in the desert, with a relatively low bird population. I've done some low work with the banner pickups and birds are the biggest problem. At those speeds a crow would do some serious damage!

Yeah, plus it's cool to see the sonic trail of dust.
 

sixone

Lifer
May 3, 2004
25,030
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We used to have a B1B's here, along with F4's and F16's. AF consolidations moved them all to other bases. :(

Nothing better than parking down at the end of the runway, hearing the engines getting louder and LOUDER and LOUDER.

The only time I ever ducked was when a KC135 surprised us from the south. :D

I miss those days. :(

Thanks for the links. :)
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
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I know that it's just a single engine jet and doesn't match the performance characteristics of the big boys, but I have always thought that the F-16 was one of the sexiest fighters.
 

Paladin3

Diamond Member
Mar 5, 2004
4,933
878
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In Palmdale, CA there is a Boeing facility where they used to do modifications to the B1B's before the program ended. I was sent to photograph the farewell ceremony when the final one left the facility and the aircraft did a low flyby on it's way out. I'd seen lots of flybys before, but this pilot came by so low and slow that the ground shook and all you could smell was jet fuel. I remember someone in the mostly military crowd saying that he wasn't supposed to be THAT low right after he passed.

The only flyby I ever saw better than that was the SR-71 Blackbird passing over when I was a kid of about 15. I was standing outside our home in, also in Palmdale, Ca, and didn't see or here anything until the aircraft came directly over the top of our house like a dark cloud. It was so low I hadn't even seen it coming and it appeared to be dragging it's tail low with the nose up. When the roar of the engines finally hit me I almost crapped my pants. My father worked for Lockheed at the Kelly Johnson Research Center back then and I have had a thing for the SR-71 ever since.
 

AeroEngy

Senior member
Mar 16, 2006
356
0
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Originally posted by: jagec
I know that it's just a single engine jet and doesn't match the performance characteristics of the big boys, but I have always thought that the F-16 was one of the sexiest fighters.

It may only have one engine but to say it doesn't match performance of the big boys is not entirely true.

It can't carry as much payload as say an F-18 but it it also weighs about ~8,000 lbs less and has a higher thrust to weight ratio.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,890
5,001
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Originally posted by: dawp
several at once

See to me that video is WAY cooler. I just simply could not imagine in WWII when 100s of warbirds and bombers would be motoring in overhead (low or not). The noise, pure volume, power and terror would be amazing. Not to mention that they were just going to carpet bomb indiscriminately in many cases.
 

Pegun

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2004
1,334
0
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Originally posted by: Paladin3

The only flyby I ever saw better than that was the SR-71 Blackbird passing over when I was a kid of about 15. I was standing outside our home in, also in Palmdale, Ca, and didn't see or here anything until the aircraft came directly over the top of our house like a dark cloud. It was so low I hadn't even seen it coming and it appeared to be dragging it's tail low with the nose up. When the roar of the engines finally hit me I almost crapped my pants. My father worked for Lockheed at the Kelly Johnson Research Center back then and I have had a thing for the SR-71 ever since.

Me too.