9g, generally, although I once saw a HUD replay by one Capt Ralph
Viets in a 1v1 with a Tomcat that read 10g for a good second or so -
the g limiter must have been out of adjustment.
But it depends on the country. The USA has the greatest variety of
high-g capable aircraft (of the western nations), but of course they
are sold around the world (with varying levels of capability,
depending on the customer). But since the F16 and F18 are capable of
9g, that is the yardstick for the present. It is a little different
from my day in the F16, because "Combat Edge" g-resistance systems
are available in the USAF (and Reserves I believe). Eurofighter will
have a (British) system as well, but I am not sure about Rafale
(France), Gripen (Sweden) or any Russian aircraft (many of which are
pretty agile!). The system provides, in addition to full-coverage
anti-g "trousers" and boots, a pressure jerkin around the torso.
These constrict the flow of blood from upper body to lower body, a
flow of blood which would reduce the pressure available to the brain
and eyes (pressure which is necessary to see and remain thinking).
However, so that the chest does not collapse under the jerkin,
pressure breathing is introduced as g increases (presumably at
pressures up to 75mm mercury which is the maximum for emergency
decompression at over 34,000feet at present).
I understand that this combination does not take much getting used to
and provides more carefree handling in terms of g-induced loss of
consciousness (GLOC), but the forces acting on the head remain and
you still need a powerful neck to hold your head where you need it
when laying on a "bat turn" - where you move almost instantly from
tail-on to your opponent if he is behind you, to lift vector on ...
it is a thrilling thing to do and to see!
Finally, you do get pain in the arms when using this system,
depending on how far your arms are below your heart, which depends on
the cockpit layout. Because you are constricting the flow of blood
everywhere else, the (blood) pressure goes to the arms. The F16 has
an elbow rest and a wrist rest to support the control stick arm (on
the right); the left arm rests on the throttle which is a little
higher. I never had a problem like this, but colleagues did (in the
F16, which has a reclined seat reducing the heart-arm distance).
Eurofighter were considering installing a higher control column to
mitigate the problem which varies from person to person - the g
system test pilot was a little wiry person who was less affected by g
anyway and he called it "arm discomfort" rather than pain!
OM content: Combat Edge did not trial using OM1s under g, to the best
of my knowledge... ;-)
Chris
At 23:36 -0700 22/01/03, James N. McBride wrote:
What is a maximum g-force expected of a modern fighter jet pilot? /jim
--
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C M I Barker
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