by Bubba "Masterfung" Wolford

Background:

The F16 is a single-seat lightweight fighter and attack aircraft. It was originally designed to compete in the Lightweight Fighter (LWF) prototype program. Of the origianl five contracts awarded; only those submitted by General Dynamics and Northrop were chosen to build prototypes. The General Dynamics company built the YF-16 and the Northrop design was the YF-17, respectively.

The first YF-16 flew on 20 January 1974. In January of the following year, the Secretary of the USAF announced that the design from General Dynamics had won the contract and full-scale production would begin soon. The original requirement of the F-16 was as daytime air-superiority fighter was expanded to include a equal amount of air-to-ground mission capability. This would make the F-16 a true multi-role fighter in the similar but vastly superior likeness to the venerable F-4 Phantom.

There were going to be a few "firsts" achieved by the F-16. One was that it would be the first complete fly-by-wire (FBW) aircraft. Another first was that it would be not only lightweight but very low cost. Estimates of the original F16's cost run around 15-20 million. Meanwhile, the F-16's big brother, the twin-engined F-15 was still in mass production. This air-superiority fighter was costing the USAF around 40 million per plane!

The first development F-16A flew on 8 December 1976. The USAF indicated it's original intent to purchase 1,388 F-16s. The first production F-16A flew in August of 1978 and by the end of 1996 over 4000 F16's had been built. For some reason (still fully unexplained) the USAF decided to indicate different version of the F-16 as "block models".

To date there have been nearly 10 different block models bought by the USAF. While the incorporation of fly-by-wire was understood as "futuristic" another computer driven innovation was quickly being brought to the forefront. Simulators had finally come of age with the rising power of processors capable of "simulating" a fully functional and modern combat aircraft.

1st Generation Military Simulators:

When I was first offered the chance to fly a simulator at a local ANG base close to my hometown I jumped at the opportunity. Fortunate for me was that I knew someone who had access to a F16 simulator. Ramsey Hammad had been a friend of mine for nearly 8 years and he and I had traversed through military school (MMA) together.

Upon graduating (different years) we became even closer since leaving school. He soon joined the USMC Reserve and was later transferred to a Command Post job at the ANG base where I would (to date) accumulate over 12 F16 simulator hours.

Upon entering the room where the sim was stationed it was quite a thrilling site. The room was hot due to all the "computers" running. The cockpit was identical to what I had seen in pictures and I was told that I was going to fly a block 15 F16 that had been upgraded to Air Defense Variant (ADV) status which meant that this version F16 was a air-to-air specialist. These pilots trained for dogfighting alone. The sim was on "rent" from General Dynamics and along with it came an operator. He was an older, very friendly gentleman named Jim.

Click to continue

He quickly greeted me and after exchanging pleasantries rolled back the seat of the F16 (the seat was on rails. It would "roll back" to allow the pilot to slip into the seat so he did not have to try and climb over all the controls.) and I sat down. I was rolled forward and there were controls on the right panel behind and to the right of the stick to allow me to "adjust" the seat up and down.

There was a knob (just like some cars) near the front of the seat that would allow the pilot to move the seat forward and back. Jim stood just to my left and where a small control panel with a lighted touch pad screen was located. From this position he could "load" any simulation that I wished to experience.

My first impression of the sim after being "wheeled" into it was one of awe. To actually put my hands on the throttle and stick was absolutely thrilling. For those of you who have the Thrustmaster FLCS and TQS you can rest assured that they are "exact" replicas of the F16 stick and throttle. Switches and dials literally surround the pilot and I know that all F16 pilots must be able to reach behind them, without seeing or turning and by "feel" know what they are and where they are located.

The screen was similar to those used by big screen TVs. It must have measured approximately 60" and had a deep blue/black screen which was concave. There were 2 MFDs and one "radar" screen. The radar screen sat sight between my legs and was exactly like those seen in Back to Baghdad, Hornet 3.0 or Falcon 3.0. Jim showed me how to change radar modes on the throttle, how to change the elevation of the radar (also on the throttle), how the afterburner "engaged" and explained some of the elements of the FBW system.

Soon Jim was loading up my first mission, which was just a rudimentary takeoff. I was looking through the HUD (which was smaller than I had anticipated, causing me to have to further "maneuver" my seat to adjust) when the screen came alive. I must admit that my first impression of the actual graphics was that I was not impressed. The runway was just a green highlight with everything else on the screen black. No graphics to speak of at all! Of course, I had to remember that this sim was probably built som etime around 1978 or so; which caused me to concede that during it's time the simulator was probably the best around.

Go to Part II

Join a discussion forum on this article by clicking   HERE.