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An international F-16 student pilot was undergoing basic fighter maneuver training with his USAF instructor pilot in two separate F-16s over the U.S. southwest. The student rolled and started to pull the aircraft but experienced G-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) as the F-16 hit around 8.3g. With the pilot now unconscious, the aircraft’s nose dropped and, from an altitude of just over 17,000 ft., entered a steepening dive in full afterburner.

After only 22 sec., the F-16 was nose-down almost 50 deg. below the horizon and going supersonic. The shocked instructor called “2 recover!” as the student passed 12,320 ft. at 587 kt. Two seconds later, with the nose down in a 55-deg. dive, altitude at 10,800 ft. and speed passing 613 kt., the worried instructor again calls “2 recover!” In a little less than another 2 sec., as the now frantic instructor makes a third call for the student pilot to pull up, the Auto-GCAS executes a recovery maneuver at 8,760 ft. and 652 kt.

The student pilot at this point comes around and pulls back on the stick, momentarily increasing Gs beyond the Auto-GCAS standard recovery level of 5 to 9.1. Minimum altitude by now is around 4,370 ft., with as little as 2,940 ft. indicated on the radar altimeter. From loss-of-control to recovery takes just under 30 sec.

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A declassified Air Force video from May of this year shows the moments after an Arizona Air National Guard pilot on a training flight passed out during a high-speed turn. He was rendered unconscious by forces that exceeded eight times the Earth's gravity. His F-16 fighter dove at a 55 degree angle toward the ground at 587 knots (about 675 miles per hour) with full afterburner engaged.
But the video has a happy ending.
While an instructor in another plane shouted for him to recover, the aircraft's Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS) kicked in. The system pulled the plane back up and into level flight. The F-16 recovered itself from the dive in under 30 seconds.

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