Could You Fly a Sabre?

摘要

DOMINANT IN DOGFIGHTS more than a half-century ago, the North American F-86 Sabre reigned long before fighters were designed to be so twitchy that pilots needed computers to fly them. U.S. and Royal Air Force pilots have called the F-86 the best-handling fighter of its time, and today pilots fly it at airshows. So if you want to fly a Sabre, how hard can it be? You'd certainly need experience flying a high-performance jet, says Steve Kirik, who flew F-l 5s in the GulfWar and is now one of two Federal Aviation Administration examiners for Sabre pilots. After that, he says, "it's actually a fairly easy airplane to fly. There's no huge amount of skill required, but you'd want to step your way up to it. You'd want to fly the T-3 3 [two-seat trainer] first If you can fly that, ifs a natural stepping stone to the F-86."