50+ thread

Ok

 

https://youtu.be/zF0FWMHB7_Y

 

https://youtu.be/hFq-5irxa4I

 

And doing all that at 450+kts...

RJ

 

USAF is in the house!!! the F-16 can get closer cause it doesn't have that damn arresting hook on it!!

RJ

 

F-16s have arrestor hooks too.

They're not as large as the Navy hooks used to catch arrestor wires on a carrier, but they are there in the event that the aircraft isn't controllable on landing and needs to catch a safety wire on the runway.

I was shocked the first time I saw one up close.

 

Depending on the model, the one we have in the Museum doesn't have one, and a couple years ago when we hosted the Thunderbirds at the Airshow they didn't have them on the single seater models at least.. I was all over those birds!!

RJ

 

Huge 17 aircraft flyover , Luke AFB Phoenix Az

https://youtu.be/QycjmgWFNEs

 

Weird. The C models the Texas ANG flies has them, as did our Vipers out in the desert. Maybe it's a thing on the Block 40 and Block 60 birds?

I know we had them on the F-4s.

 

Oh yea, I've not seen an F-4 without it.. or a Hornet or Super Hornet..

RJ

 

If you look at that one video that Chuck posted where they are flying in close formation from within the cockpit of number 4 you can see No hooks on the TBirds..

RJ

 

They're both supposed to be doing that fly-over Houston area on Friday.

 

Perhaps the museum bird had it removed and the skin cleaned up for "museum use." I bet the hook is there on the T-Birds and just tucked away.

https://youtu.be/naKeyHqvcYE

 

Yea, I just saw a flyover of the Angels at 1:28PM today over Huston, it was streaming live..

RJ

 

I've had our's apart.. And it flew in, was one of the overwatch birds from the trade center flyovers a few weeks after 911.. Still complete with engine and everything..

RJ

 

Must be an A or C model thing - the National Guard at the time had the original birds and not the new blocks and upgrades.

Dunno. I've always seen the hook because I've always been around Vipers.

 

These flyovers remind me of the fighter squadron formation of returning squadrons back to there home bases at the end of the Gulf war in 1991

 

Our's is an A model..

RJ

 

Gotta be it. A quick Google says that the A/B models in Block 1/5/10 don't have the hard points and other reinforcements in the Block 20 and later aircraft.