F-16 Cockpit Tour: Here’s All You Need To Know About Viper Cockpit

F-16 Cockpit Tour: Here's All You Need To Know About Viper Cockpit

In the below video Test pilot Major Desmond Brophy (Canadian Air Force Exchange pilot) gives a tour of an F-16 Fighting Falcon (aka Viper) cockpit used for flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base.

 

F-16 Cockpit Layout

This diagram displays the general layout of the F-16 cockpit.

F-16 Cockpit Layout
Image Credits Via  Falconpedia 

The general layout is often divided into five areas. The front panel, The left and right forward consoles, and the left and right side consoles.

The front panel is reserved for the most important phentermine forums community and flight information, as well as the up-front controls (including the ICP and DED).

The forward consoles contain other important gauges (including engine instruments and warning lights), as well as cockpit, controls that the pilot needs to use often during flight, such as countermeasure controls and the landing gear lever.

The side consoles contain controls phentermine which the pilot needs access to but which are not generally used in luxury hotels much in-flight.

F-16 center console and spatial arrangement of ICP and DED
F-16 center console and spatial arrangement of ICP and DED Via musket media

The consoles are divided into “panels” – each panel usually deals with one particular system or group of systems, and contains a group of related controls that pertain to that system.

For example, the HUD panel on the right console contains a group of switches that lose weight fast all affect the data displayed on the weight loss pills moving storage Head-Up Display.

A key feature of the F-16’s cockpit is the exceptional field of view. The single-piece, bird-proof polycarbonate bubble canopy provides 360° all-round visibility, with a 40° look-down angle over the side of the aircraft, and 15° down over the nose (compared to the common 12–13° of preceding aircraft); the pilot’s seat is elevated for this purpose.

Furthermore, the F-16’s canopy lacks the forward bow frame found on many fighters, which is an obstruction to a pilot’s forward vision. The F-16’s ACES II zero/zero ejection seat is reclined at an unusual tilt-back angle of 30°; most fighters have a tilted seat at 13–15°.

The tilted seat can accommodate taller pilots and increases G-force tolerance; however, it has been associated with reports of neck aches, possibly caused by incorrect headrest usage. Subsequent U.S. fighters have adopted more modest tilt-back angles of 20°. Due to the seat angle and the canopy’s thickness, the ejection seat lacks canopy breakers for emergency egress; instead, the entire canopy is jettisoned prior to the seat’s rocket firing.

The pilot flies primarily by means of an armrest-mounted side-stick controller (instead of a traditional center-mounted stick) and an engine throttle; conventional rudder pedals are also employed. To enhance the pilot’s degree of aircraft control during high-g combat maneuvers, various switches and function controls were moved to centralized “hands-on throttle-and-stick (HOTAS)” controls upon both the controllers and the throttle.

Hand pressure on the side-stick controller is transmitted by electrical signals via the FBW system to adjust various flight control surfaces to maneuver the F-16. Originally the side-stick controller was non-moving, but this proved uncomfortable and difficult for pilots to adjust to, sometimes resulting in a tendency to “over-rotate” during takeoffs, so the control stick was given a small amount of “play”. Since the introduction of the F-16, HOTAS controls have become a standard feature on modern fighters

The F-16 has a head-up display (HUD), which projects visual flight and combat information in front of the pilot without obstructing the view; being able to keep his head “out of the cockpit” improves a pilot’s situational awareness.

Further flight and systems information are displayed on multi-function displays (MFD). The left-hand MFD is the primary flight display (PFD), typically showing radar and moving maps; the right-hand MFD is the system display (SD), presenting information about the engine, landing gear, slat and flap settings, and fuel and weapons status.

Initially, the F-16A/B had monochrome cathode ray tube (CRT) displays; replaced by color liquid-crystal displays on Block 50/52. The MLU introduced compatibility with night-vision goggles (NVG). The Boeing Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) is available from Block 40 onwards, for targeting based on where the pilot’s head faces, unrestricted by the HUD, using high-off-boresight missiles like the AIM-9X.

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2 comments

  1. What the model of F-16 Falcons were the same cockpit as where at Falcon 3.0?

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