The Insane Engineering of the F-16 

I flew the F-4D for 1300 hours and the F-16A (Block 10) for 500 hours and can attest that the airplane is truly phenomenal and is one of the great designs of aircraft history. This video did an outstanding job covering the insane engineering involved!

40 minute Real Engineering video, this one's going to be good

My brother worked on a LASER at the Fort Worth plant in the 90s, and when he got back he was massively impressed! His words were, “ They shove a block of aluminum in one end of the plant, and F-16s come out the other! Absolutely magical!” I miss him and his absolute love of ships and aircraft!

Wow, great content!! I appreciate you and your understanding of the mechanics and physics on the F-16 airframe. Well done.

Thanks for the opportunity to collaborate and contribute to this video. Great job to the whole team on this production!

Love your videos on military planes, hope to see either the 14, 15, and/or 18 in the future

Outstanding info with beautiful photos, video and graphics. Brilliantly done!

Thx for a fascinating look at the 16!!your explaining and experience really comes thru. Great job.

In reference to the start when talking about the F-4, it wasn't that the F-4 was bad at its job is just that it rarely was allowed to do its job the way it was intended to, the F-4 was designed with the idea of firing your missiles far from the target but due to ROE limitation the F-4 pilots were required to have visual confirmation of targets before launching their missiles which made them have to put themselves at a disadvantage since they had to close in with the MiGs which were better in close quarters as they could out manoeuvre the F-4s meaning that it was less a fault with the design or intended doctrine of the plane and more so a problem with the doctrine in the ground which commanders implemented to avoid Blue on Blue incidents, it would be the same as if you the US went to war today and strapped drop tanks and extra missiles on outside pylons to Stealth Fighters, it would defeat the entire doctrine which these planes are built around which would make them infinitely more vulnerable to enemy planes which might outperform them in certain metrics, while if operated properly the F-22 and F-35 are practically invisible until you are getting shot at. It is not always the equipment that fails to live up to expectations but rather the people in charge of mission planning that fail to consider the unique advantages of each piece of gear in their arsenal, which can lead to the wrong conclusion when evaluating an aircraft, you have to stop to consider what its intended role was and if it performed well or poorly in that role when it performed tasks in that role, if I grabbed a hammer and tried to use it to mow the lawn I could say that the Hammer is useless but if I use it to hammer nails I would say it performs its task well.

I have no doubt that Boyd influenced the development of the F-16 in terms of the E-M diagrams, but you didn't mention his rejection of advanced missiles, radar, and avionics, and claimed they ruined his aircraft. Yet when those missles and avionics proved to be, it's greatest strength, he praised it and took all the credit for its design.

One of my Uncles was a General in the USAF; flew over 8000 hours in everything from the P51 to the F-16. He adored the F-16; he was very fond of saying that if we had thought of them earlier, Vietnam would have been a walkthrough. Thank you for this incredible documentary: just amazing.

I've enjoyed your channel for a while, but I have to say that for this video you really outdid yourself. This is an AMAZING video. I'm an engineer and a private pilot, and I loved the detail. Thanks a ton!!

As a masters student in aerospace control systems engineering, this video was a gift! We often use the F16 for modeling and simulations, and it was really interesting to compare the methods the had back then, to those we are taught today. Thank you!

One of the biggest disadvantages the phantoms had was just rules of engagement... They weren't allowed to take beyond visual range shots, so the migs always were allowed to get up close, where they shined. A change of tactics and rules of engagements changed the tide and phantoms started racking up the kills

The footage used is amazing! I particularly like the scene over the Great Sand Dunes National Park @ 32:02 Well done.

The engineering from 45 years ago is amazing! Would love to watch a whole series. Impressive video and interview.

I crewed F-16's in the AF and ANG for 12 years, then got to crew a test bed at Edwards for a few years. I was lucky enough to have several rides, including one over the range at MacDill AFB in 1982. Everything that Kern says about the M61A1 Vulcan is true. The violent shaking turns the instruments into a blur. I also got to meet Phil Oestricher at the SETP convention in Rome in 1992. He was the one with the dubious honor of the unplanned 1st flight in 1974. My last flight as a KC135 Boom Operator in 2005, I refueled a flight of F-16s from the Illinois ANG. I built a 43-year aviation career, basically around the F-16. Absolutely love the airplane.

Hey! Amazing video as always. Just quick correction, from 0:46 those jets are Su-22's (fighter bomber), and not the very similar Mig-21's (fighter/interceptor). The wings and the shock cone in the front shows the difference.

F16 is one of my favorite aircrafts to work on, great design and a lovely team of engineers behind it. They were my greatest interactions so far. I also got a chance to sit on a grounded F16 once a year ago, and my father worked on the F4.

Fascinating video man, well researched and presented. Thumbs up!

I really love the attention to detail with the Viggen example. It made my day to see text written in my own language whilst seeing a plane i love

Its crazy to see the cars of the era of the development of the plane next to the F-16. Like at 32:58. Looking stupidly outdated, while the F-16 still looks absolutely stunning and modern. Incredible how old this jet is (and many others)

Beautiful visuals. Amazing plane, loved this documentary.

3:41 I'm absolutely in aww at your maneuverability chart explanation. What a great way to explain such a complex graph!

Scary to think just 30 years prior to the first flight of the F16 the Gloster Meteor and ME 262 were the only operational jet fighter aircraft around. The evolution of jet aircraft is simply hard to fathom. Awesome video by the way!

What a great video. I use to be an Avionics technician on the F16 and i still learned some stuff. Awsome!

I absolutely love you videos and how in depth you go. Keep them coming!

I really loved how much of David's interview you used, and how much you really let his commentary carry the flow of the video. Extremely interesting video, thanks for sharing it with us!

I think the F-4 gets a bad reputation it does not deserve. Even considered "bad" At its worst the F-4 had a K/D against the Mig-21 of 3:1 And even after they added the cannon to it, it still achieved the majority of kills with missiles. While many F-4's were lost in vietnam the overwhelming majority were lost to surface to air missile systems.

This is superb genuinely technical and interesting video, well done!

I remember watching a film at USAFA back in the late 70s that had the F-4, F-15, and F-16 making the 360 maneuver. It was truly amazing to see how much more maneuverable the F-15 and especially the F-16 were compared to the Phantom.

Awesome! I worked with David on the automatic ground collision avoidance program at Edwards as a flight test engineer! Super cool to see him give a thorough explanation of the F-16 in this video!

Thank you for making this! The F-16 has always been my favorite plane, and it deserves to be viewed as true an icon of aviation

Thanks to all for this amazing and informative video. I loved every bit of it

Most satisfying video about fighter aerodynamics I’ve seen. Great work.

My late grandfather who passed in Early October, was a Crew Chief for a Squadron of Norwegian F-16's. After his passing I have tons of old patches, pins and such left over from his service. The last thing he said to me as I visited him for the final time was "9G" In reference to the F16's airframe capability. He'd love this video.

6:30 I’m sorry, but hearing the name John Boyd when I was watching this made me immediately raise an eyebrow.

This channel is incredible. PLEASE never stop making detailed videos like this!

What a neat short doco. Particularly that David dude, he was so incredibly interesting. He really put you in the cockpit and was the closest thing to actually piloting the jet. Really cool fella, just hearing him talk about it was more interesting than the footage etc imo

Crazy to think this plane is almost 50 years old. PS: Would be cool to see more teen series jet fighters insane engineering videos! F-14, F-15, F-18 😉

Straight up I have to say that for me, this was your best video yet! And the way you went about explaining “Nebula” at the end was nicely done and obviously carefully thought out… Much appreciated, and due to current RU-vid events couldn’t have been a better time for a promotion being so well done. I also greatly appreciated you enforcing no ads throughout this entire video, giving us a feel for what it’s actually like to watch a decent documentary without distraction (especially RU-vid’s incessantly annoying ones)!! Keep up the awesome work guys! 👍

My uncle Bill would have loved this video - he worked for Chance-Vault beginning in 1950 till his retirement 35years later - he worked in aircraft design and wind tunnel testing - one if his designs ( with his name on it ) was the jet intake on the F8U1 Crusader

Waiting for the SR-71 now. Great explanations, details and animations. Great works.

I could listen to David Kern all day long. His enthusiasm and ability to make extremely complex concepts understandable is really amazing. I knew most of this already, but it took many years to learn and understand what was provided in this video in under an hour. Respect.

One of the best videos published on this channel, with the technical and understandable explanations of each notable characteristic of the F-16. Thanks and well done!

Top quality vidéo, everything so well explained, thanks

so professionally put together ty.

The production values of your videos just keeps on getting better and better. The use of CG is amazing.

Amazing work on this video. Great and informative content as always

The ultimate irony is the concept of "light, cheap, maneuverable jet to take on MiGs" became obsolete very quickly as missiles truly made dogfight suicidal and nowadays Vipers are extremely sophisticated, much more heavier and expensive bomb/missile truck in the same way F-4 was.

Good Work...Clear and concise Engineering at his best. Thanks very much.

Insane engineering of the F-18 is something I'd love to see. It is the iconic fighter of my nation, and I've been obsessed with the jet since I was a boy watching it soar by in airshows. It's the reason I'm pursuing a career as a pilot, and seeing it on one of my favorite channels would be incredible.

From covert strike of nuclear reactor to dodging 6 SAMs without countermeasures, viper is one heck of a beauty and lethal jet.

I guess it's time to discuss F-15 next. That aircraft is so good even though it's old it's still relevant today. Especially about it's good radar

This is amazing!! Such inspiring stuff, as an Engineer!! Please do videos on F-14 and F-18 as well!!

Forgot to say it when i first saw the video, but the video production quality is out of the water with this one! Keep making all these masterpieces

Mr. Kern really made a lot of complex systems and flight situations understandable. He should be included in all your videos. Thank you.

When I was in the Air Force, I got to sit in an F-16 on the ground (I'm fairly tall, but the floor can be adjusted so I actually fit). What amazed me was the immovable stick. I had played a lot of flight simulators (well, space sims mostly) before this, and really found it hard to wrap my head around controlling the aircraft just by applying force to a stick that didn't move. I was also told that the forces from the rotation and recoil of the M61 was so great that it made the aircraft turn when fired (since it was on the side, not the middle), but the fly-by-wire system compensated for it automatically to keep the aircraft flying straight. That stuff blew my mind. Been a fan of the F-16 ever since.

this is the best documentary about a jet i ever watched. very accurate and explains many more things than other doumentaries.

Excelente video amigos. gran trabajo!! se nota el profesionalismo y su tiempo. gracias

35:00 How this man, whose name is David, resisted the temptation to quote 2001 Space Odyssey’s “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that”, I will never understand. I guess it the kind of willpower and focus one needs to become a test pilot. Bravo!

Great video as always. I think it needs a little clarification, though. In the beginning of the video when talking about MiG-21 the footage shows a pair of Su-22 (the green planes) a couple of times. The latter is much bigger plane with adjustable wing configuration, more advanced and newer platform than MiG-21.

You are and always will be my favorite channel keep up the great work

i've been a fan of the f16 since i was like 4 years old and seen iron eagle for the first time. since then, this is my favorite video featuring the f16... loved it

My grandfather was a chemical engineer for DuPont and he worked closely with General Dynamics for something, I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I was 8 when he died. He left me a scale model of it with unbelievable detail. Still have it. I

Brilliant aircraft and outstanding presentation. I loved working on them (USAF 462X0).

This video was EVERYTHING I've been looking for.

Every time you credit John Boyd and the Fighter Plane Mafia, Lazerpig gains one bottle of wine

This is absolutely one of your finest videos. Thank you for this one, ive been hoping wed get an F16 video, its engineering was groundbreaking

Just amazing content. I have always loved this little gem of an aircraft. it always represented (for me) the future. Relaxed stability rules!

26:19 I find this part relatable to tuning racing cars where you purposely make it unstable in order to for it to corner faster.

Can’t believe your animation got even better! I particularly love the part at 4:27 really helpful to understand the concept!

Amazing video. A lot of comparison between the F-4 and F-16, would love to see a video on the F-15 as it came after the F-4 and before the F-16.

I love that plane! This is by far one of the best videos on the f-16.

What a fantastic and easy to follow break-down of one of my all-time favourite fighters! Really well researched and presented with some very helpful animations, brilliant, more please! I still think the F 16 is the most beautiful jet fighter ever,' if it looks right . . . .', the adage is proved, still in frontline service all round the world and still being upgraded to keep up with modern technology. The LWF project shows what can be achieved when you keep things simple.

The bit when you're talking about the MiG-21... The footage is of Sukhoi SU-17s.

We have so many great aircraft in our country that it's impossible to compare them 1:1. F-16, F-15, F-22, F-35, and even the former F-14. I'm excited for both the Navy's and Air Force's NGAD aircraft. I cant even imagine the greatness of these up and coming 6th gens.

This is a very good documentary. Good job!

Brilliantly made video, especially the renders and diagrams. Real Engineering has been a top quality channel from the very start but you keep pushing it up.

Oh my boy just unleashed the flood gates by mentioning John Boyd

Those Czechoslovak aircraft shown in the video are definitely not Mig 21's but rather SU 17's/SU 22's

hi...awsome report....that front elevator helped...enjoy peaceful skies... god blessed you...

I'm surprised you did research but did not do research into the fighter mafia controversy 👀

It really is a lot to appreciate in the engineering of the F-16, also mind boggling how far we now have gotten in technology since the F-16 was first introducted

Wow, your explanation,right on point

Awesome video. I love these technical videos.

I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mention Harry Hillaker who led the F-16 design team at GD, or the LWF competition that required manufacturers to fund their own prototypes, which resulted in both the F-16, and the F/A-18. The FX program that resulted in the F-15 also used the EM theory, but became too expensive to replace all the F-4s and F-102/F-106s in service, thus the need for the Lightweight Fighter (LWF).

This video is awesome. The f-16 is by far my favorite aircraft and I’ve been inside the cockpit of one too! I am currently 15 years old and I hope one day to become a fighter pilot for the Hellenic airforce. You can see two greek f-16s at 10:40 and 23:15

Worked as a Final Assembly Inspector at General Dynamics in the 80s. For a period of time because of an engineering mistake in the mating alignment of the forward section at the inlet, a series of shims had to be used to achieve alignment. Don't know how long that went on but doesn't seem to have any adverse effect in general. Watching the test pilots do energy turns over Carswell that time was breathtaking. Never before had we seen a rather high speed fighter suddenly do what seemed like a 180 turn on a dime. This was something extraordinarily new for us. Still love that airplane above all others.

Gotta respect what these individuals can do. Flying a plane seems complicated enough, but adding in combat and all of that, its just astounding.

Only about 5min into the video but that turn demonstration so quick after reviewing the graph was absolutely fantastic.

This was absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for all the work you put into this. Just awesome!

Very interesting video! Lot's of information and man what a jet!

My all-time favorite fighter. With its long sleek lines and graceful curves, it has a kind of beauty that most jets don't. When I see an F-15 with its big, boxy air inlets and compare it to this jet, it's like beauty and the beast.

For the Dutch, the F-16 has quite a lot of significance. We even have one painted like a tiger for show-performance! I doubt its replacement, the F-35, will ever achieve that sort of spirit among the people.

This was awesome. I am so happy that creators like you and your team exist. This made my day.

Played MicroProse's F16 Fighting Falcon simulation back in the days on PC. One of my favorite airplanes.

Always good to watch a documentary made by someone interested in the subject 💪

it's great to see a major outlet like this delving so deeply into the physics of how these aircraft maneuver and work. some really amazing designs at play and its INSANE how deep the hole of air combat maneuvering goes.

I always loved the F-16! As you imply, it was designed to do a job, and was allowed to do its job as designed! From a civilian pilots point of view, great video overall. Great interview discussion, footage, background information, and a good amount of aerodynamics discussion!