F-16 vs F-18
06-22-2017, 12:06 AM
#11
Get me outta here...
Joined APC: Oct 2008
Position: Boeing right seat
Posts: 1,541
I got a front-seat flight in an F-16D, and a front-seat flight in an F-18F. As a "non-fighter pilot", I really don't know which is best, and don't care. Just... please, God... let me do it again sometime.
Loved it... both times!!
Loved it... both times!!
06-25-2017, 08:31 AM
#16
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2016
Posts: 400
I have 1000 hrs in the Viper and 500 hrs in the Hornet.
Hard to beat the thrust to weight of the Viper. But the Hornet was a gentleman's dogfighter. It was always funny listening to Hornet guys complain about 7Gs. It was a slow speed machine and a lot of fun. But the Viper could power its way out of almost anything.
I think the PVI is better in the Viper and you wear a whole lot less survival crap on your typical sortie, which is better for your back in the long run. (Not that 9Gs is good for your neck, however).
Hard to beat the thrust to weight of the Viper. But the Hornet was a gentleman's dogfighter. It was always funny listening to Hornet guys complain about 7Gs. It was a slow speed machine and a lot of fun. But the Viper could power its way out of almost anything.
I think the PVI is better in the Viper and you wear a whole lot less survival crap on your typical sortie, which is better for your back in the long run. (Not that 9Gs is good for your neck, however).
06-27-2017, 08:23 AM
#19
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2015
Position: I got into this business so I wouldn't have to work.
Posts: 1,034
A clean Hornet C can water your eyes with its turn rate. (No, we're not talking about F-22s or F-35s.) Both can carry 2 tons of ordinance and have a loiter time of 12 minutes. This is a tough call...
06-27-2017, 04:02 PM
#20
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2015
Position: 777FO
Posts: 703
In a beak to beak fight with guns or rear aspect missiles only, I believe the Viper is the clear winner against the Hornet or almost any other fighter. I can only think of a couple of other fighters out there to date that might be better (e.g. ones that benefit from thrust vectoring and a boatload of said thrust). The Viper was and still is the ultimate "rate" fighter.
However, if you consider the off-boresight capabilities of recent missiles such as the Aim-9x the importance of "rate" has diminished greatly. The Hornet excels in the "radius" fight whereby the winner is determined by who can slow down and use nose authority to get off the first shot from any aspect. In this more current/relevant scenario I believe the Hornet actually would win regularly. I never got to see for myself though.
On the bright side, if the Hornet's first shot or two are defeated (flares, etc), then he'd be extremely low on energy and I'd expect the Viper to finally punish him one way or another down on the floor.
However, if you consider the off-boresight capabilities of recent missiles such as the Aim-9x the importance of "rate" has diminished greatly. The Hornet excels in the "radius" fight whereby the winner is determined by who can slow down and use nose authority to get off the first shot from any aspect. In this more current/relevant scenario I believe the Hornet actually would win regularly. I never got to see for myself though.
On the bright side, if the Hornet's first shot or two are defeated (flares, etc), then he'd be extremely low on energy and I'd expect the Viper to finally punish him one way or another down on the floor.
