Comparisons with the 1986 movie Top Gun are inevitable when getting up close to F-16 fighter jets, but don’t mistake "Maverick" (aka Tom Cruise) with the F-16 pilots flying at Warbirds Over Wanaka this Easter.
Top Gun was a navy movie featuring F-14 jets, Captain Jack Impellizzeri (call sign Primo), a United States Air Force pilot based at the US base at Misawa, Japan, said yesterday.
Three pilots and 17 ground crew from the US Air Force are visiting New Zealand with two F-16s for Warbirds Over Wanaka this weekend. The planes are based at Christchurch International Airport because at a landing speed of 240kmh a large runway is needed.
Capt Impellizzeri is training to take over from Major Richard Smeeding, who will take to the skies for two shows over Wanaka.
Capt Impellizzeri said the planes would take 30 minutes to fly the 260km from Christchurch to Wanaka, at an altitude of about 25,000ft.The planes could travel at twice the speed of sound.
"In Japan we have specific training areas where we can fly as fast as we want. Otherwise we have to keep to international flying rules.
"We probably wouldn’t be very popular if we broke the sound barrier while flying over New Zealand."
The F-16s can reach an altitude of 50,000ft, so he can confirm the earth is round.
"It’s high enough to see the curvature of the earth, which is really cool."
Capt Impellizzeri said the F-16s were built for air dominance and were the "fastest raiders" in the skies.
"We can out-run anybody, which really helps in getting up behind somebody."
Capt Impellizzeri said he enjoyed the "adrenaline rush" when the F-16s "pull up to 9 Gs" or nine times the force of gravity, at twice the speed of sound.
"When you go that fast, it doesn’t really feel like anything, it’s just a needle ... which tells you how fast you’re going.
"We get these special G-suits we have to wear, which are pants with special air bladders which inflate and that helps keep the blood flowing ... and getting to the brain so you don’t pass out."
But Capt Impellizzeri said the pilots could not do it without the efforts of ground crew.
Senior Airman Emily Wall said her job entailed anything from changing tyres, to inspecting the engine and making repairs.
The planes have been stripped back. They would normally carry two extra petrol tanks and had nine stations on the wings for carrying missiles and bombs.
- By David Hill
