On Target: F-16 flies with an empty cockpit

All F-16's fly without a pilot in the cockpit . . . its the Chair Force!
 
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With so many sitting around at DM it was only a matter of time before they would be converted to drones.
 
How much would anybody pay to sit in the seat for one of those rides?
 
Oh the horror. Oh the horror.

To think all the money we spent on these aircraft and now they are just going to be used for target practice.

I for one think they deserve abetter fate.
 
wabower said:
How much would anybody pay to sit in the seat for one of those rides?
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Nothing, once they start using them for live fire exercises.

I might pay to be able to nominate someone else, though.
 
"Negative, Ghostrider, . . ."
 
I guess they ran out of F-102, F-106 and F-4's.

I used to fly cargo up the Owens Valley and stopped at Inyokern. I think it was Northrup Grumman that converted fighters to target drones there.
 
RC Universe geeks are blowing milk from their noses all over poptarts.
 
BAE still converts F-4's to drone config at Mojave - saw them in the Spring anyway while I was supporting The Spaceship Company/Virgin Galactic.

'Gimp
 
jonnyjetprop said:
I used to fly cargo up the Owens Valley and stopped at Inyokern. I think it was Northrup Grumman that converted fighters to target drones there.
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Did you see the article in Flying last month on that route? Good read.
 
There are a lot of testing profiles that we weren't able to do with the F-4 and previous drones. With the 16, they will be available now - the F4 can only pull a max of around 6gs and most of the BFM shots, we couldn't get it to even do that. The turn circle is also impossibly large. The F16 will give us a true evaluation platform for a 4th Gen fighter. This is a good thing for the US military!
 
What makes me laugh is The Campaign To Stop Killer Robots is all up in arms against it because it can be used to target people on the ground. It's a target drone! They've been blowing them up in the GOM for decades. Plus, we already have plenty of other drones (MQ-1) that can target people on the ground.
 
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Im guessing 1) they are running out of F4 drones and 2) these are Block 10 and Block 20 series aircraft.. or something along those lines...
 
Doggtyred said:
Im guessing 1) they are running out of F4 drones and 2) these are Block 10 and Block 20 series aircraft.. or something along those lines...
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Yes. I don't know as much if they are out of F-4 drones as much as it is just more cost effective to use a newer aircraft that costs less to maintain. They fly those QF-4's a lot manned, and believe it or not, they do things like maintenance test flights after mx, just like you would for normal aircraft. The majority of the time, they are not shot down, so they incur a cost just like any other airplane. When I went through WSEP/Combat Archer, my Sparrow shot missed the drone on purpose to save it. If I recall correctly, for our entire det, only 1 F-4 was downed, and that was for a TD&E type of shot, where most are just for NCEA/live training requirements for aircrew. That said, it was pretty cool to watch my buddy shoot the thing down, and watch it spin down to sea in a ball of fire after he had speared the left wing off.

As for the F-16, people probably forget, but the Viper is a pretty old airplane now.....those early block jets have been in the desert for a while now, or are flying with "Navy" or "Marines" on the side. There are plenty to go around for target duty, while still maintaining the fleet Block 30-60 Vipers on the front line for many years to come.
 
I just read it. It's spot on. Hit my head so hard in turbulence that I was in a fog and it took everything to get the plane on the ground. My jepp binder flew up, over the bulkhead, and all the way in the back of the Lance.

Fun times. :yes:

KSCessnaDriver said:
Did you see the article in Flying last month on that route? Good read.
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jonnyjetprop said:
I just read it. It's spot on. Hit my head so hard in turbulence that I was in a fog and it took everything to get the plane on the ground. My jepp binder flew up, over the bulkhead, and all the way in the back of the Lance.

Fun times. :yes:
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Ah, too bad those runs aren't around anymore. It's a different world at the company these days from back then, from what I can tell.
 
35 AoA said:
Yes. I don't know as much if they are out of F-4 drones as much as it is just more cost effective to use a newer aircraft that costs less to maintain. They fly those QF-4's a lot manned, and believe it or not, they do things like maintenance test flights after mx, just like you would for normal aircraft. The majority of the time, they are not shot down, so they incur a cost just like any other airplane. When I went through WSEP/Combat Archer, my Sparrow shot missed the drone on purpose to save it. If I recall correctly, for our entire det, only 1 F-4 was downed, and that was for a TD&E type of shot, where most are just for NCEA/live training requirements for aircrew. That said, it was pretty cool to watch my buddy shoot the thing down, and watch it spin down to sea in a ball of fire after he had speared the left wing off.

As for the F-16, people probably forget, but the Viper is a pretty old airplane now.....those early block jets have been in the desert for a while now, or are flying with "Navy" or "Marines" on the side. There are plenty to go around for target duty, while still maintaining the fleet Block 30-60 Vipers on the front line for many years to come.
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That would be one badass job doing FEFs on old Phantom IIs
 
EagleWSO said:
That would be one badass job doing FEFs on old Phantom IIs
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No kidding. The guy I briefed with was an active duty former F-15 Col type (as were most of the others), but there were a few civilian retired types on their staff as well from what I remember.
 
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