Fast Jet Airshow Display & Airframe Fatigue

[nomorecatering]

For any fast jet pilots out there,

How does a typical airshow routine in a jet fighter compare with operational missions in terms of airframe fatigue.

I would have thought that the airshow routine was more fatiguing as a higher percentage of the time in flight is spent pulling G. But a friend of mine, an ex fighter jock says operational missions generate higher fatigue due to the higher weights,...external stores etc.

'We're talking F16, F15 Mig 29, Su 27 types of fast jet.

The discussion stemmed from the fact that we are strting to see more fast jet type airframes entering ciillian hands for airshow work.

Are air displays done at a lower G load than combat air manouvering?

[PPRuNeUser0211]

NMC - your friend is for the most part correct. Air displays look quite punchy and generally involve a fair amount of G, but generally the aircraft involved are not carrying stores, and will often be fairly light on gas in the case of larger aircraft. One way of thinking of fatigue is like a weights session in the gym. It's the number of reps vs the amount of weight carried (where weight is of course dependant on the mass of the aircraft and the amount of G pulled). So a light aircraft will induce less damage to its' fatigue life in the same display than a heavy a/c.

That and the fact that display pilots only last a few minutes;)

[Double Zero]

PBA Target,

" Display Pilots only last a few minutes " !

Sadly too often true, but in general I hope you meant the display routines themselves...

I take your point about duration, stores loading and combat flying, but there is the point that in general, operational sorties are flown more conservatively ( ie in Afghanistan, while the sortie rate is demanding, there is no air threat and relatively unsophisticated SAM / AAA threat, but the hot & high conditions are demanding on engines ( and pilots ).

In display flying, engines are regularly pushed near their maximum, so something like a Harrier will incur significant engine life counts.

Also, some displays do involve carrying stores while performing relatively high G manouvres; in the past some non-UK companies displayed using realistic looking but in fact lightweight dummy stores...

Nowadays that practice is pretty well rumbled by rivals and potential customers alike, so aircraft boasting ' swing role ' etc are generally carrying inert but representative 'real' stores, though admittedly will be carrying minimum safe fuel, and I would think it extremely unlikely heavy gun ammunition would be carried, except where called for by CG considerations ( ? ).