How to treat an F-16 fighter plane

How to avoid 'Falcon bites' and the story of inter-unit aircraft graffiti in South Korea.

"Air-to-Air? No problem. Air-to-Mud? No problem. Close Air Support? No problem. It is easy to maintain and quick-turn capable. It's not a glamour jet; it just can do everything well."

Former USAF Crew Chief Derek Palos explains how to keep an F-16 flying, how to avoid 'Falcon bites' and the story of inter-unit aircraft graffitti in South Korea.

What's the easiest way to get injured at an airbase?

On an active flightline the easiest way to get hurt, is not to be aware of your surroundings, and respecting the sheer power of that machine, you see people get falcon bites all the time, getting hit with flight controls, running into static dischargers, I saw a guy get his arm caught in between a horizontal stabilator and the body of the plane, he was very lucky to still have his arm.

What is the most annoying bit of maintenance to do on an F-16?

I never had to personally do one but the Emergency Power Unit Removal and Replacement (EPU R&R) is said to be a legendary pain in the ass, from what I understand it is almost impossible to get in without brute force haha. The most frustrating part about maintaining the F-16 for me personally was all the fasteners on every panel, such overkill. The top and bottom leading edge flap seals had at least 400 hundred screws, with butter-soft torque tip fasteners that would round out if you breathed on them wrong. Late in my career I was the NCO in charge of the second shift phase hanger, we would do programmed maintenance on a hours flown schedule, every phase required those flap seals to be removed. They were the bane of my existence.

"We had a saying at Luke: What's the difference between a cactus and an F-16? On a catus, the pricks are on the outside"

The tight spaces in the engine bay made it difficult to safety wire a lot of the engine mounts after R&R, but you made adjustments for that the more you did which was instrumental during one of the challenging times which I'll tell you about later

Describe the F-16 in three words

Lawn Dart Baby! That was a common dig on the F-16, with it having one engine, if it fails, it drops like the summertime front yard game here in the states where we throw giant darts (yes Giant darts) into a circle, similiar to horseshoes.

What was your role?

I was a Crew Chief, responsible for preflight and postflight inspections, servicing the aircraft, including everyday maintenance like refuelling and tyre changing, taking oil samples post-flight for SOAP (Spectrographic Oil Analysis Program) removal and replacement of airframe components like flight controls and landing gear, minor fixes like door latches, and basically anything not related to the Avionics or Weapons system.

What was the most challenging time with the F-16 force?

I was stationed at Luke AFB in Arizona from 1993-97 in the 314th Fighter Squadron and 61st FS, (the 314th deactivated and we became the 61st ) there was a giant dust storm, what we call a haboob in Arizona (among other places). The whole base was not prepared but the 61st was positioned just right and our planes caught the brunt of the dust storm, every jet that was out on the flightline was filled with dust and small rocks in every opening. There was a freshly painted jet that we had just towed back from the paint barn that looked like half of it had been sandblasted. Every canopy was trashed, and depending which way it was facing on the ramp, decided which half of the canopy looked like it was rubbed with sandpaper. We had to take air out of the front struts to then run water through the exhaust, while an airman in raingear spun the blades from the intake. We had to resort to that because we used all the engine trailers for removed engines. The 61st worked night and day for eight days I believe, to get our 30 jets back to mission capable.

How reliable is the F-16?

I feel it was very reliable, with one engine, it had to be.

How do people feel about crawling about in the intake?

I personally didn't mind jumping intakes; it was a badge of honour for a young airman to be able to sign off on other guy's intakes, and it was a way to get out of a little work, too! At Luke it would get very hot on the flight line, so if you jumped in the intake while the fan was still turning (after shut down, not like that A-6 dude on the carrier lol) it would be 20 degrees cooler in there until the blades stopped, but until then it was pretty nice.

"On an active flightline the easiest way to get hurt, is not to be aware of your surroundings, and respecting the sheer power of that machine, you see people get falcon bites all the time.."

Tell me something I don't know about F-16s?

Well, a little nugget I like to share is that something like 70% of the F-16 components are reversible, meaning landing gear and flight surfaces can work on both sides with minor changes. I think that may even include wings, but I'm not 100% sure about that one.

What were the main differences between the Block 25 and Block 40 and which did you prefer?

The Block 25 at the 61st FS was an older jet typically built in the early '80s. The ones I worked on had Pratt & Whitney F100-220E engines, I was run-qualified on those engines. The 310th Fighter Squadron had Block 42 jets, with the same Pratt engines, and was built in the late '80s. Luke was a training base, so we had pilots learning the F-16 after their initial flight training. The 310th was training pilots in the LANTIRN targeting and navigation pods, we would fly 2-3 sorties a day, one day mission and two night missions. At the 35th Fighter Squadron while stationed at Kunsan AB we had Block 40, those had the GE engines: a ton more thrust, but a lot more maintenance. Thinking back on it, I probably like the Block 42s at the 310th FS the most, way more maintenance-friendly, and most consistent.

What is the biggest myth about the F-16?

I'm not sure if there are any myths about the F-16, but I do feel that it is not respected as much as it should be. It is VERY versatile. Air-to-Air? No problem. Air-to-Mud? No problem. Close Air Support? No problem. It is easy to maintain and quick-turn capable. It's not a glamour jet; it just can do everything well.

What is the most common fault on an F-16?

I can't remember a consistent fault with the '16. While I was with the 61st at Luke we had a problem with burn-throughs in the combustion area of the Pratt and Whitneys, we had 3 or 4 jets crash, I saw one go down myself, it was surreal. It had just taken off, there were three loud bangs, it banked hard left, punched off its wing tanks (it was a D model, 2 seater) made a u-turn and made its way to the farmland north of the base. The pilot kept the nose up the best he could; both pilots punched out, and the plane kept gliding until it eventually hit the ground, exploding. It was one of the wildest things I've ever seen.

A U.S. Air Force Capt. Justin Atkinson, an 18th Aggressor Squadron F-16 pilot, performs post-flight procedures on Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, Oct. 29, 2022. This is the first time Eielson will have the wraith aggressor paint scheme in its aircraft inventory. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jose Miguel T. Tamondong)

What was best and worst about the F-16's design?

I'm 6 foot 1, the F-16 is very low to the ground. if you are not paying attention you will get "Falcon Bites", I have one on the top of my head from an actuator sight glass door, and one from the left landing gear actuator attachment bolt above my forehead. I am very biased, but I think everything is the best about F-16's

How maintenance-friendly was it?

It was very easy to maintain. When I first joined the Air Force, all the older guys were old F-4 crew chiefs. They would constantly tell us how easy it was to have it. "Fly-by-wire? Ha! Try calibrating turnbuckles and pulleys!" The majority of the components were easily removed and replaced. It was a lot of fun to work on.

What was the relationship like between the maintainers and the aircrew?

Generally speaking, it was pretty good. At Luke, we were a training base, so we had a lot of new pilots suffering from 'Top Gun Syndrome', so occasionally, those guys would come around, but their instructor pilots would almost always lead by example and be really respectful and cool. We had a saying at Luke, purely in jest, " What's the difference between a cactus and an F-16? On a catus, the pricks are on the outside"

Going overseas, there is a completely different relationship between aircrew and maintainers. It seems to be a much closer relationship. On my third day in Korea, the pilot of my assigned jet came to my dorm room, gave me a case of beer, and said, "Take care of our jet, man!" So, in that respect, it was totally different and appreciated.

What do you think of the F-35 from a Crew Chief perspective?

I would definitely be like those old F-4 guys: "You have a laptop you plug into the jet, and it tells you what's wrong with it? We troubleshot the old-fashioned way." chief

What was good and bad about USAF culture?

I'm sure, like every military around the world, it's the friends you make, the camaraderie and good times in shitty places. I got to go have temporary duty in Florida and Canada, lived in Korea for a year, learned how to run a jet, and have a ton of stories to tell. That is the Air Force culture to me. That and the food, we had the best food of all the services, hands down.

I think the bad thing about AF culture (at least when I was in) was there was sometimes a 'fail upwards' climate for people who weren't very dedicated to the job or not good at it. Don't get me wrong, if you are not a good mechanic, and you try like hell to learn, and you are involved in everything you can be, you will not be considered a failure, you'll be respected. But avoiding the difficult shitty work would sometimes get rewarded.

What is a Crew Chief's role, and what makes a good one?

The Crew Chief's role is to prepare the jet they are assigned to for the day for flight and to keep it ready until it is no longer needed for sorties. We make sure all the documentation is up to date, and all inspections are complied with prior to flight. We greet aircrew, follow them around the jet while they do their preflight inspections, answer any questions they may have and buckle them in to the seat. We then run through the engine start up, the pilot will run a pre-programmed flight control test and then we do a manual flight control check (we are on the comm the whole time this is happening), we do a dry run of the EPU (Emergency Power Unit) used only in emergencies, it is powered by Hydrazine which is a big time carcinogen. It is attached to the accessory drive gearbox, I'm pretty sure, its been a while, it can run the hydraulic pumps and other vital components for around 10 minutes. After we do that, the airman launch assisting standing by the fire bottle and the the crew chief remove the landing gear pins and send the plane on its way.

When it comes back, we do a basic post-flight inspection, which is not as thorough of an inspection, and get it ready to go again. A good crew chief has to be a good mechanic, have a ton of integrity, be a quick learner, a team player, be extremely sarcastic, self-deprecating, and have a vulgar mouth.

Which other service or unit was the butt of your jokes?

Stateside, it's not really prevalent, except for the regular USMC jokes, calling them "Window Lickers," and "Crayon Eaters." Everyone makes fun of the Marines, but it's like brothers making fun of each other. If a civilian says something like that, it's not as accepted.

Overseas is a different story. At Kunsan AB there were two squadrons, the 35th, which is my squadron and the 80th FS The Juvats, it was just a good-natured rivalry, during the winter we would do drive by snowballing on the guys out at the "smoke pit" outside their squadron building, things like that.

Our squadron went TDY (temporary duty) to Japan and we had a guy who was obsessed with cleaning his jet, he was the crew chief on the Squadron jet, so it was expected but this dude went overboard. It was put in a hangar for it to be in a ceremony of some sort. The next morning, the host squadron had cut a giant toy wind-up key out of cardboard and made it look like a wind-up toy. The crew chief was not happy.

We had another incident when one of our jets, had diverted to Osan the northernmost Air Force base in Korea, our tail-flash designation was WP for Wolf Pack, when the jet came back someone had written in grease pencil "ere" "ussies" on the tail so it said We're Pussies. It was pretty funny, I wish I had a picture.

Did you call it Viper? Did anyone call it the Fighting Falcon?

Yeah, I called it Viper, just sounds WAY cooler

What was the worst damage you ever saw on an aircraft?

I had my aircraft involved in a mid-air collision, it happened at the Gila Bend Range in Arizona. The missile rail of one F-16, same squadron, same class, hit the left flap and sheared off half of the horizontal stabilator, my jet diverted to Gila Bend reserve base and my Dedicated Crew Chief and I had to go there with a Stabilator in a van and had a flap shipped there, replaced them and the jet returned the next day.

Do you get angry if a pilot damages an aircraft?

Only if they do something avoidable, hard landings require certain inspections depending on how hard the pilots feel the landing was. I had a jet return from a night refueling training, had the refuel boom scrape down to the bare metal in a long, oblong American-football-shaped scratch all around the backbone of the plane eventually scraping it around until he made it into the air refuel receptacle.

Also had a young Lieutenant come back with his Big Mac and fries in his oxygen mask, he didn't have one when he left, if you know what I mean. He tried to hand it to me and I recoiled and told him with all due respect I'm not taking that. The instructor pilot in the backseat told him to figure it out himself.

Do you feel possessive of the jets; do you 'own' them more than the pilots do?

Absolutely. They fly my jet for maybe three hours a day, I spent hours making sure everything was as close to perfect as it could be. But it really is a team effort, nothing gets off the ground without everyone doing their part.

What should I have asked you?

You asked great questions

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