Uncle Kevin's F-16 Flight

My Uncle Kevin works at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden Utah. He does programming for the F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the fighter jets the the U.S. military uses. He's really a great example of the kind of unsung hero who would never tout himself but who has done some amazing things. For example, during a military conflict he was able to correct a problem that was inhibiting our ability to drop laser guided bombs (JDAMS) on enemy positions by rewriting a program in a very short amount of time. You didn't see him on TV, but at the end of the day that's just as important as the jobs the pilots or soldiers do but he doesn't have to deal with gunfire on his position! The bottom line is that defending our country takes many different kinds of people doing many different kinds of jobs.

He recently took a flight in an F-16 fighter jet, something very few individuals get to do due to the fact that the aircraft are extremely expensive to create (14-20 million dollars each), maintain and operate. Initially I thought he just rode in it, but he actually flew it. Not only did he take over the controls, he actually did some rolls and pulled of a loop! I don't know how many people--including myself--actually appreciate what that would feel like, but I have an idea and it's ridiculously cool! Most people would get very will and likely vomit, but he did not. Anyway, check out some excerpts from his email response to my questions about the flight:

"I got the ride as a reward for some urgent software fixes I made so that some new weapons worked... I went to Tucson in Dec and got my ride with our test pilots there. It started out with a military take off. High speed run out and then straight up like a rocket to 30,000 ft. I did MAX Gs 7.3. I broke the sound barrier and flew at 500 ft at 500 mph, it was so cool. They let me fly for quite awhile. I flew a loop and did some rolls. We also did some dog-fighting with our wingman and did some practice bomb drops...

"It is very hard on your body at high Gs. There were a couple of times I couldn't lift my head off the rest and could barely lift my arm to change cockpit displays... I thought I might get really dizzy and sick, but as it turns out I didn't get sick at all. It was all just a thrill for me and I loved every second of it."









Congrats Uncle Kevin and congratulations!



Info about the F-16:
The F-16 is a single-engined, supersonic, multi-role tactical aircraft. The F-16 was designed to be a cost-effective combat "workhorse" that can perform various kinds of missions and maintain around-the-clock readiness. It is much smaller and lighter than its predecessors, but uses advanced aerodynamics and avionics, including the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire (RSS/FBW) flight control system, to achieve enhanced maneuver performance. Highly nimble, the F-16 can pull 9-g maneuvers and can reach a maximum speed of over Mach 2.

The Fighting Falcon is a dogfighter with numerous innovations including a frameless, bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while under high g-forces, and reclined seat to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot. Weapons include a M61 Vulcan cannon and various missiles mounted on up to 11 hardpoints. It was also the first fighter aircraft deliberately built to sustain 9-g turns. It has a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one, providing enough power to climb and accelerate vertically – if necessary. Although the F-16's official name is "Fighting Falcon", it is known to its pilots as the "Viper", due to it resembling a cobra snake and after the Battlestar Galactica starfighter. It is used by the Thunderbirds air demonstration team.