Code One, Volume 1, Number 3, Summer 1986 Page: 11
35 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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e PRESS MPO SWITCH INVERTED
" PUSH "NOSE DOWN" DEEP-STALL
THEN... lowest point)
* STABILATOR FULL
H NOTHING HAPPENING
O U "NOSE-UP"
PITCH-RATE
GENERATED
* RECOVERthere all day. The recovery is nearly the same, except in
the other direction. Find the MPO switch, hold it in the
override position, push full forward on the stick, look
for the nose to go down (in this case, towards the sky),
or wait your three potatoes, then pull on the stick. The
nose should pitch toward the ground, the AOA gauge will
come off the negative peg, and you're flying. Remember
- be smooth. Help the airplane. Don't keep pulling and
pitch it through to an upright deep stall.
I have implied that the airplane will always recover
in one cycle. This is very nearly always the case, but there
are exceptions. If the deep stall is very oscillatory and
you pull out of phase (i.e., the first pull starts as the nose
is just starting down instead of being at its lowest point)
or you do not hold the stick long enough in either
direction, it IS possible that it won't recover the first
time. Don't panic. Even if you were out of phase the first
time, you most likely have established your own phasing
and the next cycle will recover the airplane. Just don't
rush the second cycle and it should be a good one
(remember the three potatoes). In some configurations
with the small tail (or extreme aft CGs with the big tail)
we have seen even three or more cycles required - so
don't give up too soon. But in just about every case, a
single, properly executed pitch cycle will recover from a
deep stall. With a nominal 2.5 to 3 g available at 200
KCAS, the F-16 can pull out with some amazingly small
altitude losses. but don'tpress! If altitude becomes criti-
cal, admit your mistake and eject.
I have taken about a million words to tell you how
to recover from a situation you should have never gotten
into in the first place, so pay close attention to what I
told you in the first parts of this series. Learn to detect
the subtle cues that the F-16 is putting out. Improve your
SA to know when you are slow. Smoothly (this does not
necessarily mean slowly) approach the limiters when
you're at low airspeed and there is never any reason to
depart or deep stall. PERIOD! Not even if you find
yourself well below the dash one minimum maneuver
airspeed limits.
One final, very important fact that is being over-
looked. The guys in the F-16 Test Force at Edwards AFB,G!i
CODE ONE/1
52
with the help of the TAC fighter pilots stationed there,
have designed an excellent training program to show
you first hand what I've been telling you here. All it
involves is about three hours of briefing and one sortie
to show you what you need to know to sort out this
"different" airplane when you want to start maneuvering
close to (or even beyond) the limits.
NEXl The F-16's cockpit. Is itjustanotherplacefor
fighterpilots to sit? Or is it also "different"from other
fighter aircraft?Joe Bill Dryden will answer these ques-
tions in the next issue.
FURTHERMORE
By P.F. (PHIL) OESTRICHER
Director, Flight Test
oe Bill's comments reminded me of my first F-
16A deep stall. It was extremely stable and entered
via a rudder roll (not likely now, due to the "rudder
fader" feature). After wandering around for a turn or so
in a very slow, upright spin (also unlikely now), the
airplane stabilized in a wings-level, fuselage-level,
constant heading, MIL power descent - with no buffet,
vibration, or noise. It looked just like a cross-country
cruise, except for an indicated airspeed just under 100
knots and an altimeter trying to destroy itself at three
seconds per thousand feet. I didn't use the MPO as we
hadn't invented it yet, but got the desired results from
the flight test spin-recovery chute.
On two occasions I've had such an active deep stall
in an F-16B that the dutch roll coupled into a pitching
motion and the jet self-recovered . .. after 30 seconds
and 10,000 feet! Bottom line?Joe Bill is "right on" when
he says deep stalls can either be extremely smooth or
very oscillatory.
One last thought on deep stall recovery: the
recovery really ought to be over the first time the nose
points near straight down. When it does, get off the
MPO switch and do the instinctive thing. Hold the nose
there for a few seconds (with whatever pitch command
is appropriate) and then start a smooth recovery. Staying
on the MPO switch after it's no longer needed generally
gets you into the other deep stall.
By STEVE BARTER
Senior Experimental Test Pilot
M y experience with MPO cycles in deep stalls
has been somewhat different, due to the
unusual nature of the testing we were doing.
This unusual nature consisted of both symmetrical and
asymmetrical AMRAAM/AIM-9 loadings combined with
aft cg's - and allowing the deep stalls to develop for up to
15 seconds before MPO engagement.
In many cases, of course, we were looking for depar-
tures and deep stalls to investigate their characteristics.
Specific test maneuvers were accomplished to cause-I
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General Dynamics Corporation. Fort Worth Division. Code One, Volume 1, Number 3, Summer 1986, periodical, Summer 1986; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1103332/m1/13/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.