It's like you're on the pointy end of a rocket-propelled dart: What it's like to fly the F-16
Filmmaker Louis Skupien, the first British civilian to fly in an F-16 Viper, has likened his experience to being in a rocketship guided by a PlayStation controller.
He told BFBS Forces News of his apprehension before the flight. "It really is this... unbelievable feeling that you're actually there and it's finally happening," he said.
"Then obviously [there's] the filming and the professional side of it, making sure everything works well.
It responds straight away
"And [there's] that kind of anxiety there just to make sure everything goes well and then just the whole 'right can I actually survive this thing? Please don't screw this up'.
"It's a rocket ship – you feel like you are on the pointy end of a rocket-propelled dart. You can pull up out of the take-off and pretty much point the jet straight up at the sky and keep accelerating.
"Just holding the control stick of the F-16 and flying it around a bit, you can feel how it's like playing with a PlayStation controller – high sensitivity just a tiny bit of input to go left, right turn, whatever, it just responds straight away."
The need for speed
Louis's F-16 experience took place in the Sidewinder Canyon in California – an area used for high-speed low-level fast jet pilot training and practice flights.
"When we were down low in the Sidewinder Canyon we were just below sound barrier-breaking speed," he said.
"Obviously you can't break the sound barrier that low because of the environmental and ecological impacts of that, but you can do that up high in their supersonic corridors.
"So we were down low around sort of 600 miles per hour and it really felt fast, whereas we were over twice as fast up high at 50 000 feet and you couldn't really see or feel that sort of speed other than the kind of feeling in your stomach and the jet beginning to rumble a little bit.
"So in some ways half the speed down low actually felt faster than twice the speed up high. And then when you go through the sound barrier it's just an incredible feeling.
"The F-16? I believe it's pretty close to a [Star Wars] X-Wing. It kind of has that look about it. And if you're able to get the X-Wing experience I think the F-16 is probably the closest thing we can get to it flying in that.
"I've always been a big Stars Wars fan since I was a young kid and I've always been a fan of aviation as well.
"It's funny how the crossovers between aviation and Star Wars is there – and I'm sure it's created a few pilots over its time too – just like Top Gun did."
You can watch Louis's full documentary here.
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