Low-Level Flying

Training flights in the F-16

Photo courtesy of Tech. Sgt. Dave Ahlschwede

The 474 Tactical Fighter Wing, to which I belonged in the 1980s, had a multi-role mission with the F-16A aircraft. We trained for air-to-ground attacks (dropping bombs), air-to-air combat, and delivering nuclear weapons.

Our tactics and strategies focused on fighting the Russians if the Cold War turned hot.

I estimate that two-thirds of our missions were ground attack training flights. To stay out of the way of Soviet surfaces to air missiles (SAMs) and fighter aircraft looking to shoot us down, our tactics focused on low-level ingress to the target area, a popup attack to deliver the bombs, and then a low-level, hauling ass egress.

We flew a lot of low-level flying, typically 3 to 4 flights a week.

For most of the flying, the floor was 300 ft above ground level (AGL), with some 100 ft AGL flying in designated areas. But mostly, we were trying to fly at 300 ft. The F-16A did not have any instrument that showed height above the ground, so we had to calibrate the AGL altitude by eyeball.

Our low-level speed was 480 kts. or 8 miles a minute. For reference, that speed works out to 810 feet per second.

With practice, flying at 200-300 ft AGL was comfortable.

But we weren’t out there flying single-ship low-level routes just for fun. Fighter missions are always flown with multi-aircraft flights. We flew low-level missions with either 2-ship or 4-ship flights.

The standard two-ship low-level formation was line abreast about a mile apart. With a four-ship, the second two-ship element would fly the same one-mile line abreast, two to three miles behind the first element.

2 Ship F-16 Formation

The one-by-two-mile box formation was flown completely by visual reference. Remember, we flew this formation ripping across the countryside at 500 mph plus and 200-300 feet AGL.

The formation spacing would let us quickly attack and kill any bad guy fighter that attempted to come down low and attack a formation member.

It took a lot of practice to fly any position in the formation. Maneuvers would be done without using the radio, and turns would be taken at 4-5 Gs, 300 ft off the ground. If an aggressor attack disrupted the flight, flight members had to quickly get back into formation and back on track toward the target.

As a four-ship flight lead and instructor pilot, I would focus on training new wingman and pilots in the flight lead upgrade program on regular training missions. Looking back, I now see that our low-level flying tactics were hugely demanding and dangerous. Back in the day, it’s what we did every day to get better with each mission.

4 Ship F-16 Formation

One of my favorite phrases is a personal prod to take action: “Get low, Go fast, Blow things up.”

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