F-16 CCV

By the mid-1970s, the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory had initiated a Control Configured Vehicle flight research program to investigate the use of nonconventional (often called "decoupled”) movements of aircraft flight control surfaces to enable maneuvers in one plane without move­ment in another. An example of such a maneuver would be a wings-level turn without having to bank the aircraft. The very first General Dynamics YF-16 technology demonstrator aircraft (USAF serial No. 72-1567) was selected for modification. Rebuilt in December 1975 and fitted with twin
vertical canards underneath the air intake, it became known as the F-16/CCV. Its flight controls were modified to enable the wing trail­ing edge flaperons to move in combination with the all-moving stabi – lator. In addition, the fuel system in the YF-16 was modified to enable the aircraft center of gravity to be adjusted in flight by transferring fuel between tanks, thus allowing the stability of the aircraft to be varied. The YF-16/CCV flew for the first time on March 16, 1976, piloted by GD test pilot David J. Thigpin. On June 24, 1976, while being flown by David Thigpin, it was seriously damaged in a crash landing. Engine power had been lost on final approach, and the landing gear collapsed in the sub­sequent hard landing. Repairs to the aircraft would take over 6 months. The F-16 CCV returned to flight in the spring of 1977. It would complete 87 flights and 125 flying hours before the research program ended, with the last flight F-16 CCV flight on June 30, 1977.[1178]

The F-16 CCV anticipated CCV flight-test approaches that were soon undertaken by a number of foreign countries. Flight research projects in Germany, the U. K., and Japan converted existing military aircraft into CCV testbeds. Fitted with computer-controlled fly-by-wire flight control systems, these projects provided experience and insights that enabled these countries to incorporate fly-by-wire flight control into their next generations of advanced civil and military aircraft. These foreign CCV projects are discussed in a separate section of this report. Experience gained with the F-16 CCV served as the basis for the subsequent Flight Dynamics Laboratory AFTI/F-16 program, which would yield valuable insights into many issues associated with developing advanced DFBW flight control systems and result in significantly improved capabilities being incorporated into U. S. military aircraft.