Max altitude flight / altitude records

[AndrewDCS2005]

Hi everyone, I am researching a topic of maximum altitude flight in F-16C (and F/A-18C), using DCS to practice it.

First would be great to have documented public info on the max altitude flight params - I quickly searched FAI records, Flight altitude record - Wikipedia links, public forums but can't find anything specific. Is there anyone who can share links to trusted data on this?

Second, there are two types of reaching maximum altitude - in stable horizontal flight, maintaining same speed at highest possible altitude; and climbing vertically at max power to reach peak altitude. I am interested in both.

Flying F-16C without pylons and 50% fuel (mid-Jul morning in south Atlantic map without any weather) I can easily reach 55k ft indicated altitude in stable horizontal flight, and can zoom to 80k ft peak with the same params (manual stick and throttle, no trim). Is this realistic and how close does it come to the real world? 

Is anyone else interested in this and can share your findings? Maybe we can do a small competition to get Viper to highest highs?

[silverdevil]

1 hour ago, AndrewDCS2005 said:

Hi everyone, I am researching a topic of maximum altitude flight in F-16C (and F/A-18C), using DCS to practice it.

First would be great to have documented public info on the max altitude flight params - I quickly searched FAI records, Flight altitude record - Wikipedia links, public forums but can't find anything specific. Is there anyone who can share links to trusted data on this?

Second, there are two types of reaching maximum altitude - in stable horizontal flight, maintaining same speed at highest possible altitude; and climbing vertically at max power to reach peak altitude. I am interested in both.

Flying F-16C without pylons and 50% fuel (mid-Jul morning in south Atlantic map without any weather) I can easily reach 55k ft indicated altitude in stable horizontal flight, and can zoom to 80k ft peak with the same params (manual stick and throttle, no trim). Is this realistic and how close does it come to the real world? 

Is anyone else interested in this and can share your findings? Maybe we can do a small competition to get Viper to highest highs?

the f-16 is not known for its altitude. F-16A/B Fighting Falcon Fighter from NAVY.MIL the altitude record for a jet is held by a MIG25 in 1973. F-104 in 1963 was higher but rocket assisted.  with that said i would think the F-16 could make 80k IRL. but not sure. i doubt anyone would be trying it to have any empirical data.

[Deano87]

14 hours ago, AndrewDCS2005 said:

I can easily reach 55k ft indicated altitude in stable horizontal flight, and can zoom to 80k ft peak

Sounds reasonable for a totally clean jet to me.

[DukeAngus]

i did a little peak max altitude runs with a few planes, they all started the runs with a hot jet on the runway. they also all had 50% fuel, where applicable no pylons and or any ammo, and unlimited fuel turned on. the day was a brisk October afternoon in the Caucasus region, 2016 on the 11th at 16:30 to be exact with a chilling temp of -6.6 and all weather or winds were turned off. i would get the plane up to cruising altitude at full blower and once the speed stopped climbing i would go for the full pull at a climb anywhere between 45 to 60ish degrees. depending on the plane there would be an angle that once it was reach if you kept pulling the plane would start shaking/ buffeting. the cruising altitudes for all the planes ended up right around 30k to 35k. unfortunately the f-16 was at the bottom of the list and after my record height the f-16 flamed out, fortunately i wasn't in a death stall and i was able to get the plane relit and on my way. with all planes the altitude and speed readings were from the info bar at the bottom of the screen turned on by Left Control + Y, and to cycle the airspeed you use the same keybind, i believe the speed reading were true airspeed, it had TS next to the speed and the altitude was mean sea level (MSL).

             top speed   altitude

F-18         1079         78.3k

F-16          1175        92.1k

SU-33      1460         102k     

SU-27       1490      108.5k

F-15          1512       114.3k

Mig29       1603       118.5k

[d0ppler]

IRL you would need a space suit if you're going over angels 50ish, otherwise your blood will start to boil. That sounds a bit painful.

[AndrewDCS2005]

On 1/29/2023 at 8:40 PM, DukeAngus said:

             top speed   altitude

F-18         1079         78.3k

F-16          1175        92.1k

SU-33      1460         102k     

SU-27       1490      108.5k

F-15          1512       114.3k

Mig29       1603       118.5k

Nice, looks to be great runs, thank you for sharing. I'll try in the same conditions, never got anywhere close to 90kft in F-16 so there's space to learn more for me

The profile of the flight is definitely crtitical, and I suspect there is a straightforward mathematical/physical model for each plane (with mass, thrust,  lift and drag at different speed ranges, etc) as input parameters, but can't hope to rebuild it myself, only try to replicate whats been available publicly.

For example F-15A Streak Eagle world records (though focused on time to reach defined high altitude) video has some info on the flight profile with altitude and time, and some approximate climb angle  

 

 

[Aquorys]

18 hours ago, d0ppler said:

IRL you would need a space suit if you're going over angels 50ish, otherwise your blood will start to boil. That sounds a bit painful.

You don't, the F-16's cockpit is pressurized to ~5 psi more than ambient pressure at higher than 23k ft - ~ 5 psi also being the pressure that you would experience around 23k ft outside, so it's not much different than standing on the summit of Mt. Aconcagua.

[cptmrcalm]

Just found this. Few of us have had a bit of fun trying.

thread here:

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/345043-how-high-can-you-get-the-f-16c/