Would either Zeron or I have made good fighter pilots?
Although I got to go up in the F-16 I could never have been a fighter pilot because I suffer from asthma and am slightly colour blind (in as much as I know that blood is red and grass is green, but I can’t pass any of the tests). Zeron might have made the grade. The g-loc events he suffered may have been ‘one-offs’ due to him choking on a glass of water, but I think that the real thing to remember is that it’s definitely not as easy as Tom Cruise makes it look in Top Gun and although I didn’t suffer from g-loc I didn’t have to operate a combat fighter at the same time with all its complex instruments and weapons systems. Interesting web links: About the F16:Details of the F16 aircraft Explore the F16 (interactive) Defence Industries website About Gravity and the body: Effects of G forces on aerobatic pilots Teaching tools on gravity Spaceflight and gravity The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
