Video of F-16 dodging 6 Iraqi SAM launches on Jan 19 1991

Came across this video from Desert Storm, some 24 years ago.
I have no idea what im looking at here i just thought that some of you here would enjoy it.

This was one of the largest daytime raids and after 2 nights of pounding by coalition forces the Iraqi's were throwing everything they had.
The vid starts out with his premission arming before takeoff as he narrates into the video. The SAM action begins around the 3:00 point. The radar waring receiver tones and chrips can be heard often. In some cases you can see the missile smoke trails.

Thats some brilliant piloting for sure

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

Priceless,,,fast forward to the F-35 and they couldn't outrun a Vietnam era mig..Australia, let me be the first to apologize for your recent purchase of a plane that will cost you a ton of money and headache for years to come...


That pilot got some serious bragging rights...and a soiled flight suit

This may be a dumb question, but can anyone tell me what HUD mode is listed in the left corner? I have a pretty good grasp of the basic aspects such as altimeter, airspeed indicator, etc., but some of the other listings I am not sure about. I assume that the rectangle should contain but a digital altitude readout, but it doesn't. Am I wrong on that? Also, I was thinking that directly under the airspeed is the mach number, and then the G-forces, but the G-force changes do not seem right to me. Maybe I am wrong. Does anyone know about these things? Could it the maximum G's that can safely be pulled based on factors such as speed and orientation of the aircraft? If that is the case, where are the actual, real-time G-forces listed?

a reply to: chrismarco

Hey, guess what? Neither can an F-16, or just about any other modern fighter! The MiG-21 had a Mach 2 top speed. That puts it as fast as an F-16, F-18, faster than a Typhoon at sea level, and almost as fast as an F-15.

a reply to: chrismarco

Please tell me how those "Vietnam era" Migs have dominated 4th gen platforms in the last few decades, and how it would defeat a 5th gen platform just because it's faster.

Speed is a small piece of the puzzle.

a reply to: JiggyPotamus

The G meter is in the upper left above the airspeed indicator. You can see it change if you watch it throughout the video.

One thing is for sure, that pilot showed the Grim Reaper how to boogie, cheat death and live another day.

I'd imagine the g-forces just within those few minutes took several years off the pilot's life expectancy.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

That is some incredible footage, you can really hear the stress in the voices squawking back and forth. I heard "SA-2" near the beginning so that must have been a SA-2 battery that had the flight locked up. Those SAM operator were lucky at that time it wasn't a F-16 SEAD(suppression of enemy air defense, A.K.A. the "Wild Weasel" role) mission. I think the biggest G count I saw was 6.7, yeah that will smooth some wrinkles out. I bet that Viper driver was so clinched up he could have cracked walnuts with his butt cheeks.

a reply to: StratosFear

If I remember correctly the whole reason the situation in the video happened was because the Weasels were leaving while Stroke flight entered the area.

a reply to: justwanttofly

IMO they made a mistake converting the Vipers into Weasels.

a reply to: Zaphod58

What else were they going to use though? They couldn't keep the F-4 much longer and from what I understand they flew the EF-111s into the ground, even though it was a highly capable platform. I guess the F-15Es could've made a more capable platform with a dedicated GIB to go to work but by the time they came around the AF was already converting to the CJs. Hell, the Strike Eagles were thrown into the desert literally as soon as they reached IOC in 91.

a reply to: justwanttofly

It's not so much the platform, as how they did it. Every platform prior to that was a two seat platform to allow the back seater to take some of the load off the pilot and handle the SEAD portion of the mission. The Viper on the other hand stayed with the single seat C models, which put the pressure of flying the plane, identifying a target, locking on to the target, and firing the missile, all while watching for ground fire and dodging it.

Although the big problem with the Viper is that when they work in pairs, or with other aircraft, they're extremely hard to find on the rejoin coming off the target.

a reply to: Zaphod58

True. They essentially threw an ECM pod and a few extra antennas/systems on it and sent it on its way.

Vipers are notorious for how hard they are to see when doing BFM/ACM.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Of course the stupidity of that decision was rapidly hidden by the incredible stupidity of getting rid of the Ravens without anything else to take over the mission.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I've never understood that. I know the F-111 was a maintenance nightmare, but why did they think a relatively incapable Viper would fill in just fine? Quantity over quality? Did they think that farming everything out to the Navy was going to be enough support? Doesn't make sense to me.

a reply to: justwanttofly

They thought that after having just "won" the war, they'd be able to breeze just about anything through the system and they could get an SOJ platform. But they had to get rid of the Raven to justify it. Of course then the problem became no one having anything even resembling an SOJ platform in the works, or even anywhere near the drawing board. Which is why they have tried twice, unsuccessfully, to create a B-52 SOJ platform.

As usual, political games screwing the warfighter over.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

sa-2's giving a good show of force but the F-16 wins.

sounds like someone got hit around the 6-7 min mark there seems to be a big IR return was that the mk84? or a SAM hit?

a reply to: penroc3

Most likely the Mk84 hitting.

originally posted by: chrismarco
a reply to: SecretKnowledge

Priceless,,,fast forward to the F-35 and they couldn't outrun a Vietnam era mig..Australia, let me be the first to apologize for your recent purchase of a plane that will cost you a ton of money and headache for years to come...


That pilot got some serious bragging rights...and a soiled flight suit

So you know the ins and outs of what the F-35 can do? Would be quite interesting if you did. This thing is going to be great at what it is designed for, not what an Internet crowd thinks it should do.

My 2 cents, I may know a thing or two when it comes to this.

Also, crazy video, he probably never loved the ground so much that day when he landed.

Awesome video!. I have a silly question. I know the f-16 is called the falcon but what was the viper variant of it all about? Or did they just change the name of the f16 from falcon to viper? Always wondered, never took the time to research it. Hoping someone here can fill me in.