{"id":17804,"date":"2021-02-26T21:28:32","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T21:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=17804"},"modified":"2021-02-26T21:28:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T21:28:34","slug":"flying-the-f-16-fighting-falcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/alabama\/flying-the-f-16-fighting-falcon\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Dr. John Eagerton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 17th I had the thrill of a lifetime and the\nprivilege to fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon courtesy of the 187th Fighter Wing of\nthe Alabama Air National Guard based at Montgomery\u2019s Dannelly Field.  The 187th is part of the famed 100th Fighter\nSquadron which was one of the original units of the Tuskegee Airmen.  I also owe a big thank you to the pilot,\nCaptain Alex \u201cSANKA\u201d Anderegg, for making it a memorable experience.  I can think of no better way to start off\nretirement!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groundwork for this familiarization flight was laid in\nMarch of 2016 at a dinner in Montgomery to raise money for student scholarships\nfor the Tuskegee Airmen Foundation.  At that\ndinner I was introduced to the then 187th Wing Commander by a mutual friend,\nCol. Al Allenback, USAF, Retired.  The\nWing Commander and I chatted for a few moments and the idea for a flight in the\nF-16 came up in the conversation.  And I\nfailed to follow up!  Fast forward to\nsometime in 2019 and I had a chance encounter with the Wing Commander and we\nagain discussed an F-16 flight.  I\nfollowed through this time, submitted the paperwork required for getting a\nflight approved, and then waited.  In\nlate 2019 I was notified that I had been approved for a flight and in early\n2020 I was put on the schedule for a flight in the early Spring.  But the COVID-19 pandemic intervened, and the\nflight got indefinitely postponed.  Late\nin the year, however, I was notified that my courtesy flight was back on the\nschedule and set for February 17, 2021. \nI had a firm date!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To prepare for the familiarization flight I did a bit of\nreading and YouTube \u201cresearch\u201d (if you can call it that) on the F-16 just to\nget an idea of what I was in for during the flight.  About a week before the takeoff, I had to\nvisit the Wing\u2019s flight physician to get the all-clear.  One of the things I was surprised to find out\nis that you must be within certain physical dimensions to fit in the cockpit.  For example, your torso has to be within\ncertain physical limits, so the canopy won\u2019t treat you like a trash\ncompactor.  Although I passed this part\nof the physical, the cockpit was still a snug fit as I later found out!  On the day prior to the flight, I attended a\nmorning egress training session where I got fitted for a helmet, G-suit and\nharness.  The support crew did a great\njob getting me fitted.  I also learned\nabout the cockpit layout, which knobs and switches that I shouldn’t touch and\nthe ejection system.  Two things I\nlearned that stuck with me; the ejection is a violent ride and parachutes\nsometimes fail.  Oh, I also learned not\nto grab the ejection handle for something to hold on to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day of the flight, I arrived on base at 7:15 a.m.,\nsuited up and met Captain Anderegg for the first time.  I was immediately impressed with his\nprofessionalism and dedication to his mission. \nAlso, I was quickly put at ease with how he was approaching the flight\nthat morning with someone who had never experienced flying in a fighter\njet.  I was reassured that it was his job\nto make the flight one that I would enjoy; it was not his assignment to scare\nthe hell out of me.   I received a\nthorough briefing of the flight, which would last approximately one hour, and\nwe discussed the air work we would do. \nAnd then it was out to the flight line to get familiarized with the\n\u201cCity of Eufaula,\u201d the F-16 we would be flying that morning.  A word about the weather, it was the first\nclear morning we had had in about 10 days so I must be living right!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
John Eagerton in the rear seat with Capt. Alex Anderegg.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The flight itself was an amazing experience and I got to\nobserve what the aircraft is capable of, which is far more than what I\u2019m\ncapable of handling.  Even with the\npressure suit, I discovered that 5 G\u2019s is about my limit.  While I\u2019m proud to say I returned the sick\nsack unused, I will admit that those G-forces were tough on a 68-year-old\n\u201cairframe\u201d like mine.  The biggest thrill\nthough was actually getting to fly the F-16 myself.  What was really interesting to learn is that\nthe side stick only moves about \u00c2\u00bc inch in any direction.  Compared to all the other aircraft I\u2019ve\nflown, including a P-51, the performance of the F-16 is indescribable.  Words can\u2019t adequately describe all the\nsensations I experienced.  If a picture\nis worth a thousand words, a video should fill a book.  You can see a bit of the flight in an\n18-minute video I uploaded to YouTube at https:\/\/youtu.be\/oXNRF0MIDv8.  (shameless plug alert; please leave a comment\nand thumbs up!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One other thing made this flight particularly memorable for\nme personally.  As I mentioned, the\nwing’s 100th Fighter Squadron is descended from the 100th Fighter Squadron of\nthe “Redtails,” the Tuskegee Airmen who distinguished themselves with\ntheir bravery and heroism during World War II. (See companion articles below)  Like the F-16 I flew, the tails of some of\nthe F-16 aircraft are painted red today to remember and pay tribute to the\nheritage of the Tuskegee Airmen. Having had the privilege to fly with the 187th\nwith a young African American pilot during Black History month made my flight\nall the more rewarding for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. John Eagerton retired on January 1st after 27 years of dedicated and outstanding service to the Alabama Department of Transportation as Aeronautics Director and Chief of the Aeronautics Bureau.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. John Eagerton On February 17th I had the thrill of a lifetime and the privilege to fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon courtesy of the 187th Fighter Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard based at Montgomery\u2019s Dannelly Field.  The 187th is part of the famed 100th Fighter Squadron which was one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/John-Eagerton.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17808,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17804\/revisions\/17808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}