by "Smoke." CO, Fighting 189th VFS Six Shooters

You are turning and burning in Falcon 4.0 or Total Air War or Fighter Squadron. Oh-oh, you've been pulling high Gs for too long and your field of vision is slowly closing down until all you see is a black screen. But is this a true representation of a fighter pilot's experience?

I know that this article will bring me loads of criticism, but I believe that to get closer to a true "F-16 simulator" experience with a modern sim, one should turn the blackouts OFF.

While I feel that the closer we get to real F-16 flight the better, there are many people who feel that a true experience can only be had by turning blackouts on. These virtual pilots have already made the mistake of assuming that the blackout modeling is correct. (We all know what the definition of assume is, right?)

The modeling we are seeing with regard to blackouts isn't even close. Although there are those of you who were skeptical after the original release of this article, I have done further research and will continue to take the stand that the modeling we see is innaccurate. Now before you accuse me of heresy, please hear me out.

Some Fighter History

First let's go back in time when the F-16 was in it's theoretical design stage. We had learned from the Vietnam war that fighters of that era were getting too large and were cumbersome in a furball. Because of that we came to rely on missiles way too much, and a MIG-19 could give an F-4 all it wanted!

In response, the design team at General Dynamics went to work on the concept of a maneuverable fighter that could dominate in any furball engagement. They realized that most fights occurred between 10k and 30k feet and at speeds under Mach 1 and that to dominate these dogfights an aircraft would have to handle high G loads. Hence the F-16 design work began (I know this is simplified, please bear with me.)

To provide high-G tolerance the designers tilted the seat back 30 degrees from the vertical and raised the heel elevation six inches above the Vietnam era seats. These modifications reduced the effective distance between the heart and the brain which increased G tolerance by about two G's. By doing this they effectively gave the F-16 driver an edge over any other aircraft.

Jarmo Lindberg of the Finnish Air Force.

Take It to the Limit

Where did they get the " 9-G" limit you ask? Well, it was taken through years of testing in the centrifuge that this was the maximum G load a pilot could sustain and still perform the mission. Obviously, the designers would not set the aircraft limit at a level that would black out pilots as much as they do in Falcon 4.0.

Furthermore, since that time systems have been added such as "Combat Edge." This system consists of a "Positive Pressure Breathing" oxygen regulator which forces air into the lungs to assist oxygen intake during straining maneuvers, coupled with a vest that limits how far your chest will expand (we don’t want to blow up like a balloon now do we?) Also, a few years back engineers increased the air flow output in the G suit to aid in response time and obtain near instantaneous inflation.

Now, what does this all mean for us? For starters it allows us to take full advantage of the capabilities of the baddest weapons platform ever created: the Ferrari of fighters, the F-16 ! With these systems we can tame the beast and make it our own, and we can all become HeartBreakers and Grim Reapers.

Asking the Question

To bring all this into focus I spent some time with several of our pilots, both Air Force and Civilian Test Pilots, at LMTAS (Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems) discussing the physiological effects of Hi-G's on our mortal bodies. I think you will find the answers interesting and varied.

My first question to the U.S.A.F. pilots was directed to the extreme end of the equation. "Guys, in a 9G sustained turn what effects do you experience to your vision and how long can you sustain that?" After getting through all the comments of how much of a weenie the other one was, Major Don "Big Daddy" Mencl told me this:

"If you prepare and do your L-1 maneuver (which is now called the AGSM - Anti G Strain Maneuver), you can sustain a 9-G pull for as long as you need to without any loss of vision." Wait a minute, what is an L-1 maneuver, some kind of "split-S?" I kidded.

He laughed, "No it’s the tightening of your body and the controlled forced breathing technique in three to five second intervals that helps you maintain the blood in the upper body, thereby keeping the blood to the brain." Oh yeah, I remember doing it during my Hi-G experiences. Didn't know that was what it was called. I personally named it the "trying to crap the football maneuver." LOL.

Anyway, Big Daddy went on to say that you can control how G's affect you by utilizing this method and by being in condition . . . and that means being in shape and current at experiencing G's. So let me condense some of this so everyone can remember: I'll call it our 9G check list.

1. Quick breath, hold, strain - crap the football.

2. Quick breath, hold, strain - CTFB (abbrev for ya)

3. Quick breath, hold, strain - CTFB

You get the picture.

I pressed them further: how long can you really keep this up?

Big Daddy said, "Quite awhile. A lot depends on how conditioned you really are." But he went on to say that if you fail to meet any of the above requirements, a quick 9G snap could lead to "lights-out." He reiterated the importance of "condition and preparation."

Captain "Smurff" Murff backed this up by saying that during air combat maneuvers thirty seconds of sustained 9-G presents no problem at all. Major Mike "Pink" Floyd added that "you can sustain 9-G's as long as you need to in a furball."

How long is that? I have viewed tapes where our test pilots and DCMC pilots have been engaged in furballs practicing their ACM where they have gone at it for several minutes. These several minutes have consisted of several long sustained Hi-G positioning maneuvers. In real life someone would have been whistling " Great Balls of Fire" as the other went down long before either one of them got tired.

I went on to ask them, "How about a sustained 6 to 7-G turn?" They all said that it wasn't even an issue, no problem at all.

I received an interesting letter from an F-16 pilot regarding the first release of this article:

I'm a USAF F-16CJ pilot at Misawa AB, Japan. I've enjoyed goofing around with flight sims for several years, and have been having fun with Falcon 4.0 since it came out. Compared to other F-16 sims out there, it's by far the most realistic. Nevertheless, there are still some things that aren't quite "real."

Your article about the "blackout issue" is accurate. The only way a guy is going to blackout is if he's screwing up his AGSM (anti-G straining maneuver...we stopped calling it the L-1 a few years ago.)

The AGSM is a high-emphasis item when guys go through F-16 FTU at Luke AFB. The whole topic is taken pretty seriously, and the emphasis continues throughout a fighter pilot's operational career. Checking the "blackouts" box is like saying you want to simulate you're a pilot with below average physical conditioning who doesn't belong in the fighter business.

Karl "Gash" Gashler

I would like to add that every F-16 that rolls out of the Factory here in Ft. Worth, TX. and comes to the Flightline performs several Functional Check Flights (FCF's). During those flights as part of the profile they are required to pull 9-G's, and if the aircraft doesn't do it, it doesn't pass until it does!

To provide further information I asked one of LMTAS' flight test pilots, and a good friend, Mr. Troy Pennington to give me his thoughts on the subject. Troy pretty well confirmed what our AF pilots had said. He went on to add that while in high G maneuvers, i.e., 9-G's, as you start to notice a blurring of your vision at the very edge of your peripheral field, you do that L-1 (AGSM) maneuver and it goes away (forcing blood in the veins of your eyeballs).

This blurring acts as an "Early Warning System" to let you know it's time to perform the L-1 again (just in case you forgot you were pulling 9-G's… Fat chance, right?) Troy went on to tell me of an experience he had while a Marine Test Pilot. He was part of an inter-service swap program with the U.S.A.F. doing centrifuge tests. This is a great story.

Picture it. Troy is at the test center and gets strapped in the centrifuge. During the preliminary checks with the "Fuge" operator the conversation goes like this:

Fuge Guy : Sir, would you like to break the record for sustaining 9-G's today?

Troy : Not today, thank you.

Fuge Guy : Sir, you’re a Marine right?

Troy : Yes I am.

Fuge Guy : Sir, the record is held by an Air Force person, are you sure you wouldn't want to try to break it?

Troy : No, not today thank you!

Fuge Guy : Sir, you're a Marine right, and you know that the record is held by an Air Force person, did you know that person was an "Enlisted" person? Do you want to try to break the record now?

Troy : No, not today, thank You!

Fuge guy : Sir, well you're a Marine, and you know that the record is held by an Enlisted Air Force person, but did you know that the Enlisted person is a woman?

Troy : What's the record ?

Fuge Guy : Sir, 30 seconds.

Troy : Let's do it !

Troy went on to do 61 seconds at 9-G's without blacking out. The Fuge operator shut it down, not Troy! He got out and asked why the operator stopped it and the operator told him that the Doctor overseeing the test shut it down because nobody was really sure what damage may occur to the internal organs when sustaining those G's for so long.

Troy : You bunch of @#!$#$#!

Fuge Guy: Sir, At least you broke the record.

I also queried Steve Barter and Bland Smith, two of Lockheed's Test Pilots who have flown numerous air shows where high G's are routine. Both responsed that they rarely see effects such as vision loss if they perform their straining maneuvers properly. During these air shows they will experience constant G's, performing sustained 9-G's, to show the jets cornering capabilities.

I then spoke to the Manager of Lockheed's Flight Department at LMTAS, Mr. Joe Sweeney. His comments were from a pilot who doesn’t have the opportunity to fly as often as the other guys, but to stay current he flies the same profiles with the same 9-G requirements.

Joe said that a lot depends on how he feels from one day to the next, as well as other circumstances (did he eat lunch or not), as to whether he experiences vision loss or not. Some days he says he reaches 9-G's and his vision turns gray and loses textures and starts tunneling, other days he can pull high Gs till the cows come home!

He also added that they would do special preparation when he was flying as a Naval aviator. When they knew they were going to be mixing it up with other aircraft they would warm up by pulling high G's prior to an engagement.

So the real key turns out to be very simple - conditioning, preparation and pay attention and you will not experience those devastating blackouts. So why do we see them in modern sims like Falcon 4?

Before I close I'll relate to you my experience with high G's the first time I flew in the back seat of an F 16. During sustained 6 to 7-G pulls, I noticed a slight fuzziness at the extreme edges of the peripheral field. However, the 9G maneuvers which we sustained for twelve seconds was, for me, quite debilitating. It was not so much the vision loss, which reduced my field of view to approximately the size of a basketball (at arms length), but the intense feeling of weighing nine times my body weight that bothered me.

You've heard the saying "it ain't over till the fat lady sings." During these exercises she was sitting on me and I wanted it to be over! I wouldn't trade that experience for the world, but the reality is that I am not a conditioned F 16 driver, and by the time I pulled those 9-G's I was already worn out by doing everything imaginable in an F-16 (not to mention two minutes of dry heaves, glad I bypassed lunch.)

I want to make one point clear. It's obvious that G loads affect people differently, and that high G's do have an impact on our body. That's why conditioning and training are paramount to every successful fighter pilot. And yes, after a while, even Tom Cruise would probably have to say "uncle." But as blackouts relate to Falcon 4.0 our quest for realism drives us to ask this question: is it more realistic with them on or with them off?

What I'm trying to say is that if you want to experience the F-16 flying F4 as if you are PeeWee Herman all the time, then by all means, turn blackouts on. But if you want to experience it like a seasoned veteran of the skies, turn them off. You'll enjoy it even more!

Until next time, check 6!

SMOKE C/O Fighting 189th VFS
Six Shooters

Photos courtesy of Lockheed-Martin.