An F-16 fighter aircraft of the Polish Air Force flies low through a valley in the Peloponnese mountains in Greece.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multipurpose fighter jet that has been widely used since 1979. In the Netherlands and Belgium, among others, it is the successor to the F-104 Starfighter. In Belgium, the F-16 also replaced the Mirage 5. In the Netherlands, the F-16 also replaced the F-5. The aircraft was designed by General Dynamics. The General Dynamics factory was acquired by Lockheed Martin.
The F-16 was an innovative aircraft in many ways. For instance, the F-16 was the first aircraft with a computer-controlled operating system based on fly-by-wire. This was necessitated by the fact that the aircraft was also the first to have negative static stability. It thus had a tendency to deviate from a straight trajectory. Similar technology was applied to the F-117 Nighthawk because this aircraft was also unstable. To exploit this instability, the aircraft was made strong enough to still manoeuvre at 9g with a full tank. Furthermore, the aircraft also stands out because the cockpit screen is one-piece, this gives the pilot better visibility.
Kris Christiaens is a professional aviation photographer who always tries to portray the power, manoeuvrability and history of aircraft and helicopters in the most original and impressive way possible... Read more…