Ukrainian fighter pilots could soon make the jump to real F-16s that don't fly quite like the jets they know best

• Ukrainian fighter pilots learning to fly the F-16 could soon make the jump to real combat aircraft.
• The F-16 flies a bit different from the fighter aircraft they know, namely MiG-29s and Su-27s.
• A former instructor told Insider that the learning curve may be in the control systems and displays.

Ukrainian pilots training to fly an American-made fighter jet into battle are expected to soon make the jump to the real deal, which a former US Air Force Reserve instructor says "just flies differently" from some of the Soviet warplanes with which they are more familiar.

Ukraine's scrappy fighter fleet is composed of Soviet-built MiG-29 Fulcrums and Su-27 Flankers, but the country, which needs additional airpower amid ongoing Russian aggression, is set to get F-16s once pilots complete the necessary training, including everything from language courses to combat flying.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said Sunday the expectation is "the initial cohort of F-16 pilots, currently undergoing training on flight simulators, will soon shift to the cockpits of training and combat aircraft," according to Ukrainian media. It's unclear when exactly in the pipeline they'll begin flying actual F-16s, but training is progressing. Earlier this month, Ihnat said flights with instructors were only weeks away.

Simulators, which have become more and more advanced, put a pilot in a replica of the cockpit that offers a flying experience similar in certain respects to the actual aircraft, and, as retired US Air Force Reserve Col. Mike "T-DAY" Torrealday told Insider, "that's great for a transition from the simulator to the aircraft itself."

But even the best simulations, including those that incorporate virtual reality for greater realism, can not completely match the real thing, he said, explaining that "you're not feeling the accelerations or the Gs or any of that" and it might take time to adjust.

What could really take some getting used to, though, are the differences in flying between the F-16 and some of the Soviet fighters the Ukrainian pilots know best, said Torrealday, who logged over 4,000 hours on the F-16 and served as an instructor for both US and international students on the platform.

'Very, very responsive'

While the Su-27, like the F-16, uses fly-by-wire controls — digital, electronic systems processing the flight control inputs — the MiG-29 uses hydraulic controls.

With a fly-by-wire control system, for which the American jet was a pioneering aircraft, "it's all done electrically, which makes it very, very responsive," Torrealday said of the F-16, adding that this fighter jet doesn't fly quite like some other airplanes.

If a MiG pilot pushes the stick to the left to turn, they have to bring it back once the plane has reached the desired bank angle because inputs for pitch, yaw, and roll are executed mechanically, but an F-16 pilot doesn't have to do that because the inputs are sent to the control surfaces on the wings and tail via electrical signals.

The stick, which controls aircraft movement, in an F-16 is also a pressure stick on the right, instead of a more traditional stick in the center of the jet, which is the case in MiG-29s and Su-27s. Transitioning from a Soviet aircraft like the MiG to the F-16 can lead to some jerky flying early on.

"A lot of times when you had pilots that were transitioning from another platform, they started rolling left, and then you'd get a kick to the right, and you're like 'Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?' And it's just that muscle memory that they have that every time they put in an input, they have to take it out," said Torrealday, who taught pilots from Poland and Romania that flew MiGs.

"It takes a little bit of time to get that out of the system," he said. "That's just something inherent to the F-16 that they may have never experienced on anything else."

'Hands on throttle-and-stick control'

For at least some, if not all, of the Ukrainian pilots who are learning to operate the F-16, either in Denmark or the United States, the command and control, ergonomics, avionics, and various weapons and sensor controls are likely to be at least somewhat different from what they're accustomed to in Soviet aircraft.

With the F-16, "most of your controls are either on the throttle on your left hand or on the control stick on your right hand," Torrealday said. "So you rarely, once you're employing tactically, have to take your hands off the throttle or the stick. That's called hands on throttle-and-stick control."

If the controls a pilot needs are not on the stick or throttle, the latter controlling the jet's engine, they are close by. The MiG-29, at least in most variations of the plane, is not set up in the same way, requiring the pilot to be more heads down when flying and limiting awareness in combat.

In aircraft without these kinds of control systems, "you would have to let go of either the throttle or the control stick and flip switches up in front of you to change sensors, weapons and that sort of stuff," Torrealday said. But "when you get to the F-16, that's no longer required."

'Information overload'

The F-16, originally made by General Dynamics and later Lockheed Martin, also features a variety of information displays inside the cockpit that are designed to give a pilot more situational awareness and autonomy than some Soviet-era aircraft.

"You have what are called multifunction displays, which are small screens, color screens in front of you, above your legs, and you are getting a lot of information, much like you would say in video games," Torrealday said.

"You're getting color-coded information on targets, on navigation points, on threats, and all kinds of things like that," he added.

"It's kind of an information overload when you're starting out," Torrealday said, acknowledging though that it is unclear to exactly what level the Ukrainian Air Force has experienced this kind of technology in its aircraft, some of which may be upgraded versions of the original platforms that started with analog instruments.

Simulator training will help ease the transition with these potential differences, but getting up to speed in an actual plane still takes time.

Training a new F-16 pilot requires about eight months, while a more experienced pilot who has flown tactically may be able to master the jet in five months or less.

Training has been ongoing at the Danish military air base in Skrydstrup and in the US at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona.

Ukraine has long sought the F-16, a proven combat platform readily available in various NATO arsenals, but the jet's utility has been heavily discussed and debated by veterans and experts weighing the capability of the fighter against the combat conditions in Ukraine, where the prolific employment of air defense systems poses a threat to anything in the air.

Airpower experts disagree over whether or not a fourth-generation jet, even one as capable as the F-16, can have an effect in this environment, where pilots are forced to fly low to the ground just to evade enemy radars and neither side has been able to achieve air superiority.

Some say they don't stand a chance, some say it can make a difference but it depends on the mission, and others say it will likely come down to the missiles. We won't know for sure one way or the other though until it arrives in Ukraine.