{"id":53167,"date":"2023-09-23T21:52:05","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T19:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=53167"},"modified":"2025-09-23T00:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:07:07","slug":"a-flight-in-one-of-the-first-f-16-fighters-from-a-civil-company-but-with-a-military-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/09\/23\/a-flight-in-one-of-the-first-f-16-fighters-from-a-civil-company-but-with-a-military-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"A flight in one of the first F-16 fighters from a civil company but with a military mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since entering service in 1978, the F-16 Fighting Falcon has become one of NATO's most popular fighters.<\/p>\n

Janet: an airline with which you will never fly to a place that they claimed did not exist<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe return of an old F-104 Starfighter fighter and the intense smoke of its J79 turbojet<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Much of that popularity came from the film \"Iron Eagle\"<\/strong> (1986), in which a young aviator flew in an F-16 to a country fictitious (but very similar to Gaddafi's Libya) to rescue his father.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although many ignore this fact, the F-16s that appeared in that film were F-16A (single-seater) and F-16B (two-seater) of the Israeli Air Force<\/strong>, where these fighters are known as \"Netz\" (Falcon). The IAI Kfir fighters that appeared in that film pretending to be enemy planes were also Israeli.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although the F-16s flew with the good guys in that movie, the US Air Force and Navy have been using F-16s in their aggressor squadrons for years<\/strong>, which play the role of enemy aircraft in the training of fighter pilots. However, for some time now these training sessions have been opening the doors to private companies<\/strong> that have old fighter jets to play the role of aggressors.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of those private companies is<\/strong> Top Aces<\/a>, a company with base in Montreal (Canada) that provides training to the air forces of Canada, Germany and the United States. Its aircraft fleet includes Dornier Alpha Jet<\/strong> trainers, Bombardier Learjet 35A<\/strong> executive jets, Douglas A-4 Skyhawk<\/strong> attack aircraft and - for two years- F-16A and F-16B fighters<\/strong>. In January 2021, Israel sold 29 F-16A\/B to Top Aces<\/a>. The planes came from surplus Israeli Air Force supplies. The last Israeli F-16A\/B were retired from service in 2016<\/strong>, being replaced by the more modern F-16C\/D.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Top Aces now flies those F-16A\/Bs with US civilian registrations<\/strong>, being the only civil company of this fighter model currently in the world (in addition to these, the other civil operator of the F-16 is NASA<\/a>, which has used its F-16s for experimental purposes). In 2022, Top Aces obtained a contract with the US Air Force<\/a> to train pilots with their F-16 Netz acting as aggressor aircraft.<\/p>\n

This Saturday, veteran pilot Hasard Lee<\/a> has published a video of a flight in one of Top Aces's F-16B<\/strong>, during a dogfight training. The plane in this video could be one of the two-seat F-16B Netz that appeared in \"Iron Eagle\":<\/p>\n