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Flight Test Area F-16XL-1 F-16XL-2

Stability and Control 42 23

Flutter 28 —

Structural Loads — 27

Performance 38 38

Propulsion 12 20

Weapons Separation — 12

Operational Utility Evaluation Video Recorder Video Recorder

assigned duties involving structural loads and propulsion testing while F-16XL-1 focused on stability and control (including at high AoA), flutter testing, and flight control system evaluations. Both aircraft were to participate in aircraft performance and stores separation testing as well as the Operational Utility Evaluation (OUE) that would be conducted by the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center (AFOTEC). In addition, F-16XL-2 carried six high-speed film cameras. Mounted externally under the wings, the cameras were focused on the external weapons and stores. Separation characteristics following weapons release from the aircraft would be filmed for subsequent Sensors for determining structural loads on the airframe were positioned at different locations on F-16XL-1 and F-16XL-2 as shown in these GD drawings. (Lockheed Martin)

postflight analysis. Sensors to record different structural loads were mounted at various locations on each airframe. Each aircraft was used to record structural loads in various parts of the airframe; for instance, F-16XL-1 recorded main landing gear vertical loads while XL-2 determined the loads at the left and right wing break locations. Later in the flight-test program, individual aircraft instrumentation would be revised relative to the first phases of the flight-test effort to account for specific test objectives that were assigned to each aircraft.³⁸

Endnotes

1. Author not identified, “SCAMP Cuts Drag, Increases Fuel Load,”

Aviation Week & Space Technology (August 18, 1980): p. 96.

2. The dual-dome Differential Maneuvering Simulator provided a means of simulating two fighter aircraft or spacecraft maneuvering with respect to each other. Each 40-foot-diameter dome contained a generic cockpit with glass instrumentation, programmable control inceptors, a 360-degree field-of-view visual system, a target image generator system, and a high-resolution area-of-interest visual system.

3. The chord on most wing planforms varies at different positions along the span, growing narrower toward the wingtips. For this reason, a characteristic reference figure that can be compared among various wing shapes is used. This is known as the mean aerodynamic chord, or mac (sometimes the notation MAC is also used). With the F-16XL, the overall cranked-arrow wing planform is composed of two differ-ent planforms on the inner and outer segmdiffer-ents of the wing, thus its MAC is a composite of both segments. NASA Glenn Research Center,

“Beginner’s Guide to Aerodynamics,” http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/

k-12/airplane/bga.html, accessed May 17, 2012.

4. The angle of incidence is the angle formed by the wing chord line and the aircraft longitudinal axis. The wing chord line extends from the leading edge of the wing to the trailing edge of the wing. The lon-gitudinal axis is an imaginary line that extends from the nose of the aircraft to the tail. NASA Glenn Research Center, “Beginner’s Guide to Aerodynamics,” http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/bga.

html, accessed May 19, 2012.

5. General Dynamics Corporation, “Preliminary Design Drawing:

Internal Arrangement, Dual Role Fighter Aircraft,” General Dynamics Corporation, Fort Worth Division, F-16 DRF Proposal, April 22, 1983.

6. David C. Aronstein, “NASA and Computational Structural Analysis,”

Case 8 in Hallion, NASA’s Contributions to Aeronautics, vol. 1.

7. Robert Wetherall, correspondence dated December 20, 2012.

8. Fuselage stations are numbered according to their position relative to the length of the fuselage, measured from the nose. Thus, FS 463.1 was located 463.1 inches along the fuselage as measured from a refer-ence point located forward of the nose of the aircraft. The aircraft station coordinate system is based on an XYZ coordinate system origi-nally developed for nautical engineering purposes and commonly used in ship and boat design. The X-axis of this system (usually referred to as the fuselage station, or FS) is positive pointing aft from a reference

point located forward of the nose of the aircraft. The Y-axis (the so-called butt-line distance) is measured from the centerline of the fuselage (zero butt line) with the positive direction measured outboard on the right wing. The Z-axis is positive pointing upward from a refer-ence line located approximately along the centerline of the fuselage when seen from the side. Distances measured from the waterline (WL) are known as WL distance.

9. Jane’s editorial staff, Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft, F-16XL entries in various annual volumes (London: Jane’s Information Group, Inc., 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1995–96).

10. Hillaker, presentation to the Lone Star Aero Club.

11. GD, “F-16XL Flight Test Program—Final Report.”

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.; Talty, “F-16XL Demonstrates New Capabilities.”

14. Conceived during WWII and completed in 1947, McKinley Climatic Laboratory provides facilities for all-weather testing of aircraft, weapons, and support equipment. The laboratory can accommodate the largest bombers and transports. Nearly every weather condition can be created, with temperatures ranging from –70 to +180 degrees Fahrenheit. Every aircraft in the current DoD inventory has been tested inside the McKinley Climatic Laboratory.

15. GD, “Flight Test Program—Final Report.”

16. Hillaker, “F-16XL Flight Test Program Overview.”

17. GD, “F-16XL Flight Test Program—Final Report.”

18. Thomas J. Grindle, NASA DFRC, correspondence with author, January 1, 2013.

19. Dummy AMRAAM missiles were carried on the four AMRAAM missile stations during the F-16XL flight-test program. The two in the front bays were ballasted, but the aft ones were made of wood and fitted with metallic nosecones and fins.

20. Aronstein and Piccirillo, The Lightweight Fighter Program.

21. Robert R. Ropelewski, “F-16XL Shows Advances in Range, Ride and Flying Qualities,” Aviation Week & Space Technology (September 26, 1983): pp. 62–71; GD, “F-16XL Flight Test Program—Final Report.”

22. Talty, “F-16XL Demonstrates New Capabilities.”

23. James O. Young, History of the Air Force Flight Test Center, 1 January 1982–31 December 1982, Vol. I (Edwards AFB, CA: Air Force Flight Test Center, 1983).

24. Aronstein and Piccirillo, Lightweight Fighter; Chambers, Partners in Freedom. Interestingly, the Swedish Saab J 35, with its cranked-arrow wing planform, was also susceptible to a serious deep stall condition,

and its pilots were specially trained in both stall avoidance and recov-ery techniques; see Walter J. Boyne, “Airpower Classics: J35 Draken,”

Air Force Magazine 94, no. 12 (December 2011).

25. Talty, “F-16XL Demonstrates New Capabilities”; Sheryl Scott Tierney,

“Inflight Excitation of the F-16XL,” presented at the Third AHS, CASI, DGLR, IES, ISA, ITEA, SETP, and SFTE Flight Testing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, April 2–4, 1986, AIAA Paper 86-9782 (1986).

26. F. Clifton Berry, Jr., “The Revolutionary Evolution of the F-16XL,”

Air Force Magazine 66, no. 11 (November 1983); Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night, or LANTIRN, is a combined system that uses two externally mounted pods carried under the F-16’s engine inlet. One pod is used for navigational pur-poses while the other is employed for targeting air-to-ground weap-ons. LANTIRN significantly increased combat effectiveness, allowing flight at low altitudes, at night, and under-the-weather, and it enabled ground targets to be attacked with a variety of precision-guided weapons; GD, “General Dynamics F-16XLC/D MULTIROLE FIGHTER,” General Dynamics Corporation, Fort Worth Division (undated, circa 1983).

27. Jane’s editorial staff, Jane’s Aero Engines, Issue 30 (Alexandria, VA:

Jane’s Information Group, Inc., 2011).

28. Later, during the NASA supersonic laminar flow control flight-test program, a GE F110-GE-129 engine capable of producing 29,500 pounds SLST in full afterburner was installed in F-16XL-2. The fully developed F110 engine eventually produced over 32,000 pounds SLST in the F110-GE-132 version.

29. GD, “F-16XL Flight Test Program—Final Report”; Talty, “F-16XL Demonstrates New Capabilities.”

30. Ibid.

31. GD, “F-16XL Final Flight Test Report.”

32. Ibid. The Low Aerodynamic Drag Ejector (LODE-14) bomb rack was fitted with shackles spaced 14 inches apart, enabling standard U.S.

Mark 80- series general purpose bombs to be carried.

33. Talty, “F-16XL Demonstrates New Capabilities”; GD, “F-16XL Flight Test Program—Final Report.”

34. Grindle correspondence.

35. Ibid.

36. Ibid.

37. Hillaker, “F-16XL Flight Test Program Overview”; GD, “F-16XL Flight Test Program—Final Report.”

38. Hillaker, “F-16XL Flight Test Program Overview.”