Cooperd0g
Member
It seems like a common theme of referencing old fighters comes up quite a bit in the discussion of canopy choice. I though I would share some perspective relative to new fighters.
F/A-18: It has a tip up canopy, but it tips up backwards so it is more like the slider on the RV with the canopy bow in your field of view. And you can taxi with the canopy up, but you cannot MOVE the canopy while the aircraft is in motion, it must either be up or down. The glare shield does allow you to fly it as a convertible if the canopy is jettisoned airborne. It will be very windy, but you can do it. That canopy bow does make it so you have to bob and weave your head to look for targets on the ground and other aircraft. Make no mistake, it hinders visibility. Though you get used to the canopy bow and can determine roll in angles by how may bolts up the canopy bow a ground target is, or how many angles off the tail of an adversary you are buy how far from the canopy bow he is.
F-16: It also has a tip up canopy that goes backwards, but there is no canopy bow support as the entire canopy goes up. So it is more like the RV tip up in that regard. Man visibility is incredible! But you lose the sight references from the Hornet. Then again, if you grew up without a canopy bow you don't have those sight references to begin with. I must admit, I got very used to the visibility in this bad boy. I had to steal a picture from the net of an open canopy shot of the Thunderbirds as I didn't have any pictures of my own.
Now let's look at the F-35: This sucker tips forward just like the RV canopy. I'll be honest, the tip forward looks a little weird, especially on a fighter since I'm not used to seeing it. But what is worse is that it still has a canopy bow! So the entire canopy tips forward, but you retain the visibility restricting canopy bow! Who came up with that? So it is like the worst of both worlds.
Anyway, I figured it was time to references some more modern fighters rather than just the ones from WWII in the canopy controversy. Slider is like the Hornet and Tip Up is like the Viper. While I agree that the slider does look better, I'm not sure the canopy bow can be used to your advantage the way it can in the Hornet. I'm not flying an RV yet so I'll have to check them out before I buy one to see which I like best.
F/A-18: It has a tip up canopy, but it tips up backwards so it is more like the slider on the RV with the canopy bow in your field of view. And you can taxi with the canopy up, but you cannot MOVE the canopy while the aircraft is in motion, it must either be up or down. The glare shield does allow you to fly it as a convertible if the canopy is jettisoned airborne. It will be very windy, but you can do it. That canopy bow does make it so you have to bob and weave your head to look for targets on the ground and other aircraft. Make no mistake, it hinders visibility. Though you get used to the canopy bow and can determine roll in angles by how may bolts up the canopy bow a ground target is, or how many angles off the tail of an adversary you are buy how far from the canopy bow he is.
F-16: It also has a tip up canopy that goes backwards, but there is no canopy bow support as the entire canopy goes up. So it is more like the RV tip up in that regard. Man visibility is incredible! But you lose the sight references from the Hornet. Then again, if you grew up without a canopy bow you don't have those sight references to begin with. I must admit, I got very used to the visibility in this bad boy. I had to steal a picture from the net of an open canopy shot of the Thunderbirds as I didn't have any pictures of my own.
Now let's look at the F-35: This sucker tips forward just like the RV canopy. I'll be honest, the tip forward looks a little weird, especially on a fighter since I'm not used to seeing it. But what is worse is that it still has a canopy bow! So the entire canopy tips forward, but you retain the visibility restricting canopy bow! Who came up with that? So it is like the worst of both worlds.
Anyway, I figured it was time to references some more modern fighters rather than just the ones from WWII in the canopy controversy. Slider is like the Hornet and Tip Up is like the Viper. While I agree that the slider does look better, I'm not sure the canopy bow can be used to your advantage the way it can in the Hornet. I'm not flying an RV yet so I'll have to check them out before I buy one to see which I like best.
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