My senile grandfather asked this, but can the F-16 take off or land from a carrier.
2006-10-30 11:21:58 · 7 answers · asked by Dylan J 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
No, because it's not beefed-up enough.
When I was in the Air Force, our F-4's weighed about 1,000 lbs lighter than the Navy's, because they had heavier duty landing gear, and structure in the aft section.
Any time one of ours had to use the tail hook, we had to strip the panels sft of the engine and check the frames for stress and cracks.
Can you imagine the navy doing that every time they grab a wire?
2006-10-31 03:04:49 · answer #1 · answered by strech 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The F-16 can land on an aircraft carrier - Yes it can. Every military aircraft has a hook at the back of the plane that drops to catch a wire in case of emergencies. On every Military airfield or Air Bases, there are pennants strung out at each end of the runways just for that purpose (emergency landing/emergency stop). The Navy and Marine Corps are the only two armed services that actually take off and land on an aircraft carrier. Will the F-16 survive a carrier landing? Probably not, it is not built for carrier landings. As far as an F-16 taking off an aircraft carrier - No. The F-16 does not have a 'launch bar' at the nose struts and neither a 'hold back' to keep the plane in tension while waiting to get lauch at the pointy end of the ship.
2006-10-31 03:38:59 · answer #2 · answered by pinoy_sailor 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a Navy pilot or aircrewman, but I think besides the stresses of a carrier landing on the undercarriage of an F-16, I don't think any of the factory-stock F-16's came with one important piece of carrier landing equipment -- TAILHOOK! Without the tailhook the plane can't catch the arresting cables on the carrier deck, will not decelerate fast enough, and will touch and go right over the front of the carrier into the ocean. I suppose the plane could be caught with one of those emergency nets the carriers have in an emergency, but it would probably tear the plane up, and I suppose a tailhook could be rigged up, but I don't really know about that for sure. But other than that, no an F16 can't land on a carrier.
2006-10-30 20:18:59 · answer #3 · answered by c_macleod_us 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO IT CAN'T. its under carriage is too weak for carrier landings. i think it could be equipped to take off from a carrier and with huge modifications to land on a carrier. i think the f-18 hornet was the plane that the navy chose over the f16, because the navy prefers two engines for fighters
2006-10-30 19:31:23 · answer #4 · answered by thomas r 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
no they cant.however,the navy did have some F-16's for aggressor training.
2006-10-30 19:38:08 · answer #5 · answered by vetteslayer 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
do a search on google or yahoo on the subject and you will get your answer. overall the answer is no
2006-10-30 20:06:58 · answer #6 · answered by bubba j 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, the F14 did it too.
2006-10-30 19:24:49 · answer #7 · answered by infernal_seamonkey 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋