Fighting Falcons

[jcoffin]

Well, that is the official nickname of the F-16, even though nobody I've ever heard of really calls them that. Most people would just call these Thunderbirds:





Today they were practicing in preparation for the US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony that takes place at noon tomorrow. If the weather is good, I may have a few more shots then...

[David Kilpatrick]

There goes another few grand of your money I don't guess they fuel these with recycled chip fat (British joke, but my brother does it - runs his Merc on reclaimed fat from restaurants).

David

[jcoffin]

There goes another few grand of your money I don't guess they fuel these with recycled chip fat (British joke, but my brother does it - runs his Merc on reclaimed fat from restaurants).
David

I'm rather in favor of biodiesel fuel myself, but I don't think it fits the military mindset very well. It'd probably work reasonably well if they did though -- jet fuel and diesel fuel are pretty similar. On the other hand, most US military planes normally use JP-7, which is denser so they can fit more energy into a given space (space being at somewhat of a premium in a fighter jet).

Then again, even if the fuel was completely free, these would be pretty expensive to fly -- the last I heard, they require something like 20 to 25 person-hours of maintenance per flight hour.

[jcoffin]

As expected, a few more shots from the actual graduation. The weather was a bit nicer, which at least gives a nice blue sky:





Of course, their smoke trail adds a bit of haze:

[Greg Beetham]

Terrific shot that third last one. They sure like getting in close...those guys.
Greg