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.
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!
