Page 80 - Never Fly Solo

LIFT VERSUS DRAG | 53
of thrust kicks in. The acceleration is unreal as we gain speed:
150, 200, 250 knots. In seconds we’re airborne. I raise the
gear handle. I’m already at 300 knots, nearly 345 miles per
hour. Deke yells out in the back, “Great Job, Waldo!”
And then it hits me: I’m flying the F-16!
Exactly two years later I would find myself strapped into
another F-16, taking off on a very different mission. Nobody
else was with me in the plane, but I wasn’t flying solo. My
wingmen and I were in combat over Iraq, in skies a lot less
friendly than those over Phoenix, Arizona. Weighed down
with two 370-gallon wing fuel tanks and a huge assortment
of missiles and weapons systems, this jet was a lot heavier and
less maneuverable than the one I flew in training. But the new
configuration wasn’t the only thing that weighed me down.
Flying six hours at night through enemy skies, my fear, anxi-
ety, and claustrophobia added to the weight I felt. But the
mission had to get done.
Two flights in the F-16. Two completely different
missions.
What helped determine the difference were the lift and the
drag.

THE SCIENCE OF LIFT

Have you ever wondered how a thirty-five-thousand-pound
F-16 combat-configured jet gets into the air? It’s no easy feat.
An abbreviated lesson in aerodynamics will help you under-
stand how these amazing machines not only fly but perform
superbly.
To overcome the force of gravity, you have to generate an
opposing force greater than gravity. That force is lift. When