Need for speed: F-16 pilot calls the fighter jets sought by Ukraine ‘easy to fly’

By JEFFREY SCHAEFFER and JADE LE DELEY
Associated Press

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — F-16 fighter jets hurtle pilots through the sky at high speeds. In tight turns or sudden climbs, gravity is pressing so hard on their bodies that some of them might even pass out. Even so, it’s an experience Ukraine is seeking for its pilots. It’s received U.S. approval to train and eventually receive the American-made jets to bolster its more than year-old fight against Russia. U.S. Air Force Capt. David Brown, who’s an F-16 pilot, said at the Paris Air Show this week that training takes about a year for American military pilots. He says the F-16 “is incredibly easy to fly” and the challenges are “all of the other stuff that goes along with the flying.”